if people are dead keen on investing in gold & want to have the physical gold in hand, why don't they go & check the price of gold coins/ingots from jewellery shops & if the price seems fair to you, buy them & store them in a safe deposit box. The alternative is to buy "paper gold" from the banks, they hold on to it & you just buy & sell as you wish & pay the marked up commission, nothing is free so don't grumble, better off doing that than some scam & see your savings being stolen.