Gold is not only the world’s best performing asset so far in 2016, but it’s also off to its strongest annual start since 1980. A key difference is that 1980 was the end of a bull market, while this is the beginning of a new one. Actually, it’s the beginning of the second leg of a long-term bull market that began over 15 years ago, which I believe will be even more powerful than the first.

But today, I am warning potential gold buyers about another gold ripoff.

(Many of you have already downloaded my free special report on gold scams available at goldscams.com. If you have not read this report, I strongly suggest that you do so now.)

This case comes from a recent Canadian startup called BitGold, operated by GoldMoney Inc. One of the services BitGold provides is prepaid debit cards that customers can use to access gold purchased from and stored by the company. Now that is a great idea. The problem is that BitGold claims to be the first and only company in the world providing this service. The truth is there are several other companies offering gold-backed, prepaid debit cards, including my own company, Euro Pacific Bank, that first began offering them over three years before BitGold copied the concept. In fact, my bank even offers silver-backed prepaid debit cards, a service not currently provided by BitGold.

I find it hard to believe BitGold isn’t aware of existing prepaid gold-backed debit cards, but they have no problem marketing theirs as being the first and only one in the world. My guess, however, is their real intention is to deceive investors purchasing the company’s over-priced stock. If investors think the company provides a unique service, they are more likely to overlook huge current losses. The hope is that by being the only company providing an innovative service that those losses will eventually turn into profits. But since BitGold does not have the first-mover advantage it claims and is not the only player in a market that I think will be even more competitive in the future than it is today, I do not believe BitGold’s business model will ever deliver the kind of profits investors expect.