Actually, no. It's easy to tell gold from gold plated lead, because it's almost twice as heavy. So a gold plated fake Krugerrand is the easiest counterfeit in the world to detect. Plus, you would need to invest in an extremely expensive minting machine and dies just to make even look-alike fake gold coins, not just a paper copying machine. If you try to make cast (poured in molds) fake coins, they would be spotted as fakes ten feet away, even BEFORE they were tossed on the gram scale.
Well, you and I know of the specific gravity (19.6) of gold and how dense it is.
Realistically speaking, though, how many folks have ever held five pounds of gold in their hands? or even five ounces?
If there is any kind of breakdown, people would go into survival mode very quickly. And that means desperation. And throwing values and morals to the side.
The amount of swindlers out there depends on one thing - the amount of suckers! And we know there is no shortage of those!!!
Yes and the gram scale is the bottom line. Nothing weights the same as an ounce of gold. Absolutely impossible to forge a Kruggerand or any of the gold coins and get away with it/as long as you have your gram scale handy.
Buying your coins from a respected coin dealer is the way to go.