You know what’s a good way to get rid of stolen jewelry? How about a gold melting ATM!? Thanks to post on X from Las Vegas Locally, we now know that the popular gold melting ATMs that are currently in use in China and India are coming to Sin City.
Gold-melting ATMs in China and India allow users to quickly turn gold jewelry into cash in about 30 minutes. These machines melt gold items, test their purity using sensors and calculate their value based on real-time market prices. Then the money is deposited directly into the user’s bank account. The process is fully automated. The machines use a robotic arm and high-temperature (2200°F) furnace to convert jewelry into a small gold bar before evaluation.
The machines are popular because they offer a fast, secure, and convenient alternative to traditional gold selling, eliminating paperwork, delays, and middlemen (aka pawn shops). Built-in identity verification adds an extra layer of security, making them an appealing option for people looking to quickly and safely liquidate gold assets. Of course this also means that if you happen to come upon some jewelry not your own, you can still melt it down.
Some of the concerns for these machines include the ability to “fence” stolen goods. These machines could be used to quickly melt down stolen jewelry which would make it impossible to track. They would be used in the destruction of evidence with it’s immediate melting process which doesn’t scan or look for identifying features in the gold itself. Concerns have been raised that they may act as an easy cash-out point for street theft.
Generally on some jewelry items you will have micro-engraving which is used to identify the origin or ownership of the item. Unfortunately these machines don’t check for that.
