A jewelry business in Alaska, USA, sold fake gold nuggets to undercover investigators posing as customers, according to the state’s attorney general.
Salespeople at Soni Inc, repeatedly told investigators the “gold nuggets” were remarkably pure 24 karat gold, says Alaska’s state law department says in its complaint.
But the “nuggets” were tested in a lab and found to be 14 karat imitations shaped to look like natural nuggets.
Soni Inc, which sells Alaska-themed jewelry in Ketchikan under the names Soni Jewelry and Colors Fine Jewelry, was also found to be selling “gold quartz”, with veins of gold that were either low-purity alloys of roughly half gold, or contained no gold at all.
They also claimed, wrongly, that natural gold quartz only occurs in Alaska and can only be legally purchased in Alaska.
“Misrepresenting imitation goods originating from outside as authentic and locally made souvenirs to people who just want a genuine keepsake from their trip to Alaska is intolerable,” said Attorney general Treg Taylor.
“It hurts trusting tourists, and it hurts Alaskan communities.”
The State of Alaska has asked the Superior Court to enter a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to prevent Soni Inc. from continuing to misrepresent its imitation jewelry.
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