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Are you buying bad gold?

The price of gold is soaring and its popularity is booming. Last year, $81 billion was spent on gold worldwide.

But are you really getting what you pay for?

With gold selling for $1,400 an ounce, every bit counts. But experts say some gold shoppers are being shortchanged.

So "The Early Show" sent Consumer Correspondent Susan Koeppen to investigate if this actually does occur.

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Koeppen set out across the country, from New York to Texas, buying gold from chain stores, antique shops and mom and pop operations. Koeppen and her team were looking for sellers trying to cashin by selling gold that wasn't really gold at all.

With gold prices up more than 400 percent over the past decade, this precious metal is a hot commodity.

Lorne Caplan says he spent $800 on a gold ring and bracelet stamped 14 karat, but when they started to chip and turn green, he knew he'd been scammed.

Caplan said, "There are a lot of opportunities for people to prey on people like me. ... I went and had it independently tested and it was plated. It wasn't even 14 karat gold."

After buying 26 pieces of jewelry -- all of them listed as either 14 karat or 10 karat gold -- Koeppen had them tested. It turns out, "The Early Show" buyers got ripped off more than a third of the time.

Koeppen spoke to Cecilia Gardner, president and chief executive officer of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, a watchdog group in the jewelry industry.

Koeppen asked, "We found pieces that were less than 10 karat. Should those stores have been selling those?"

Gardner replied, "They can certainly sell them, but they just can't call it gold."

Under federal guidelines, Koeppen reported nothing under 10 karat gold can be sold as gold in the United States.

But, Koeppen said, we were clearly sold items that were underkarated. She pointed to a Minnie Mouse charm that was supposed to be 10 karat gold.

Koeppen asked Gardner, "It came back nine karats. Is that so bad?"

Gardner said, "Well, your pocket got picked. There is a karat of gold missing in this. And that's worth money -- more and more every day."

A Bugs Bunny charm turned out to be 8.4 karats. A cross was 9.31 karats. And a peace sign was 1.48 karats.

Koeppen noted, "Keep in mind they were all sold to us as 10 karat gold."

"You paid for gold that isn't there," Gardner said.

Koeppen asked, "And the consumer is none the wiser?"

"Exactly," Gardner said. "If consumers educated themselves, they could save themselves from getting tricked."

As for Caplan, he says his gold buying days are over.

"I feel foolish," he said. "I should have been smarter. Obviously, I should have been paying more attention."

Koeppen added retailers can be fined or even face criminal charges if they are caught selling gold that's underkarated. The stores where Koeppen bought the bad gold told them to bring it back for refunds, and one store owner blamed his supplier for the underkarated gold.

So what should you be looking for when buying gold?

Koeppen said, "First, a lot of the fake gold is sold in places where you go looking for big bargains. Look at the pieces carefully and look for stamps. If you are buying a gold charm for example, and it's a Disney character, it should have the Disney logo on the back and how many karats."

"(The) Minnie Mouse had no markings," she said. "But I also bought this charm with the Pittsburgh Steelers logo. It has an NFL stamp on the back -- there is a 14K stamp, and it turned out to be 14 karat gold. And you can ask the store if it has a quality assurance program. Does the store test the gold before it's put up for sale?"

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