Local community member warns public of gold-buying operation

She shared her story with The Journal and said she wants to warn the community, especially the elderly members, of what she called “a scam” in which the buyers “blatantly rip off” those who want to sell their gold, silver or antiques for cash. According to Jorgenson, the buyers drastically undervalue the items and are not honest about how much the items are worth.

In her case, they also wrote her a bad check, she said.

Matthew Enright, vice president of communications for the Treasure Hunters Roadshow & Associates did not return calls or emails from The Journal to comment on the issue.

Employees of the Treasure Hunters Roadshow set up shop at hotels across the country. In International Falls, the group visits twice a year, renting a banquet room at the AmericInn. Jorgenson added that many people confuse Treasure Hunters Roadshow to the television show Antique Roadshow, which is a different business. It is also not the same business as Duluth-based Gold Guys. However, Treasure Hunters Roadshow & Associates operates under different names across the country, such as “Ohio Valley Gold and Silver Refinery.”

A CBS undercover investigation of the operation detailed why the company is being accused of fraud and is under scrutiny by several agencies. Jorgenson’s story is one of the examples CBS used.

Jorgenson said the gold-buying company usually stays in the community about a week for each visit. In May, she brought in miscellaneous gold pieces to sell.

“Some of them were quite expensive, so I was looking for not a tiny check,” she told The Journal.

The employee weighed the pieces and said they were worth $200 total.

“That didn’t seem right,” she said.

So she took off her wedding set, which she knew was worth more than $1,000, and had them weigh it. She was not selling her wedding set, but wanted to test the system. The employee said it was worth $50.

“I didn’t know for sure what was going on, but when I tested it with my wedding set, I knew for sure they were ripping people off,” she said.

She accepted the $200 check for the other pieces, because she wanted to get rid of them, she said.

She immediately went to the bank to deposit the check. Three days later, she found out the check had bounced and was not honored.

“It was horrible — the money I spent on long-distance calls and the time I put in trying to resolve the issue was frustrating to say the least,” she said about her attempts to contact the company about the bad check.

The company finally told her they sent out employees with checks under a closed bank account, and that the employees were unaware that the company had changed accounts.

They took down her information and said they would mail her a new check within two days, she said.

“Of course two days came and went, four days came and went, one week, two weeks, and of course I didn’t get a check,” she said. “I was ready to lose it — every person I talked to (with the Treasure Hunters Roadshow company) didn’t know that I had called before, and I had to tell the story over and over again.”

She eventually got a check after she “fought tooth and nail,” and this time, she cashed the check instead of depositing it.

In the meantime, Jorgenson researched the company under the Better Business Bureau, and found that the company had “severe dings against them.” She wrote a letter to the BBB and was soon contacted by a national news correspondent who was working on an investigative story on the company.

“They caught them red-handed,” she said. “They’re ripping people off, and our community is so populated with elderly people who wouldn’t know that these people are being dishonest.”

Jorgenson added that many in the community also may not have background knowledge on how much their items are worth if they sold them.

“I’m very concerned about the community,” she said. “You put your trust in someone like that thinking they’re doing you a favor.”

Now, Jorgenson wonders how much she would have gotten for the pieces had she sold it elsewhere, or to a local gold buyer, she said.

“I regret selling it because I’m sure I could have gotten a bigger check (had she sold it elsewhere),” she said. “I don’t think I’ll ever go to one of those companies ever again.”

Jorgenson said she wanted to share her story with the public because the gold buyers are often in the community and return several times a year.

Jorgenson wants to “let people know what’s happening if they ever do come back to our area.”