Investors in bullion wait for answers from trader

John Fraser was told on Wednesday he would not get back the money he invested in Bullion Buyers. Photo / Simon Baker

Investors with an Auckland gold bullion trader are in limbo after being unable to contact the owner about the status of their money.

The Serious Fraud Office is making inquiries into the Bullion Buyer website and interviewed several investors yesterday who had complained about the company.

Bullion Buyer is a gold and silver bullion trader based in Auckland, and is run by Grace Holdings, whose sole director is Titirangi man Robert Kairua.

On Wednesday, Rose, John and Lela Fraser were told by Kairua they would not get back the $340,000 they had invested through the company. John Fraser was also told he would not receive the $85,000 of silver bullion he paid for.

Other investors tried to contact Mr Kairua yesterday but said the director did not return calls. Those who went into Bullion Buyers' downtown Auckland office were told he was not in the building.

Paul Baker, whose family has more than $150,000 invested with Bullion Buyer, said he just wanted an explanation about the company's situation.

Mr Baker said he originally made good profits and recommended Bullion Buyer "as a possible life-changer". He wrote a testimonial praising the company, which was shown on its website.

However, the 61-year-old asked to have his reference removed this week after problems with his online trading account.

"I asked them to take that down three or four days ago because I lost patience ... every customer on the site is able to bring up their account to tell them if they're in profit and I haven't been able to access that for the last four or five weeks - they told me they were changing software," Mr Baker said.

Mr Kairua's office told the Herald that he was not available.