The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) has alerted the trade to a fresh wave of fraud after impersonators registered a website and began offering gold-related business deals under the organization’s name.

CIBJO said became aware of claims strikingly similar to an earlier scam exposed in January. This time fraudsters have set up a domain, cibjo-as.org, and a person identifying himself as Bruce Ikemezu claims association with the site, the confederation reported.

Unlike CIBJO — a nonprofit representative association that does not trade in physical commodities or financial instruments — the impostors appear to be promoting commercial activity. CIBJO does not trade in any commercial products, the secondhand gold market, nor financial instruments such as gold futures, the organization said in a statement.

CIBJO has no connection to ‘cibjo-as.org’ or Bruce Ikemezu. Any persons making claims in CIBJO’s name are not authorized to do so, and quite possibly could be committing a criminal act.

The confederation said it has filed formal complaints with law-enforcement authorities in multiple countries and urged industry members to exercise caution. Businesses approached with unusual offers should carry out rigorous due diligence before making payments or sharing sensitive information, CIBJO advised. Members who are contacted by individuals claiming to represent CIBJO were told to verify credentials with the CIBJO secretariat.

This alert follows a similar incident in January when an Indian-Japanese group falsely claimed a gold-trading affiliation with CIBJO, highlighting an ongoing pattern of bad actors exploiting the confederation’s name to lend credibility to fraudulent schemes.

Industry parties and buyers are warned to treat unsolicited offers that invoke CIBJO with skepticism and to report suspicious activity to both CIBJO and local authorities.