Milan: The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) is issuing an urgent warning about individuals claiming to represent CIBJO or bodies directly affiliated with CIBJO, offering products and/or financial instruments endorsed by CIBJO.

The existence of such claims was brought to CIBJO’s attention yesterday, May 24, 2026, which are similar to other claims reported to us in January of this year, when a purported Indian/Japanese group asserted to be gold trading operation affiliated to CIBJO. This time, a website domain named cibjo-as.org has been registered, and person identifying himself as Bruce Ikemezu professes to be associated with it.

As a non-profit representative association, CIBJO does not trade in any commercial products, the second-hand gold market, nor financial instruments such as gold futures. 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.

CIBJO already made formal complaint about such fraudulent claims to law enforcement authorities in a number of countries.

CIBJO urges all industry members to practice extreme caution when approached with business offers that seem out of the ordinary, and always to do proper due diligence before making a financial decision.

If you are approached by individuals claiming to be CIBJO representatives, who you do not recognize or who are not identified on the CIBJO website (www.cibjo.org), CIBJO recommends that you verify their credentials by contacting the CIBJO Secretariat at cibjo@cibjo.org.