So these guys, the scammers, they pretended to be scientists and ordered gold. Gold is used in electronics, among other things. You often have gold plated contacts. So people like to use gold. We use gold on spacecraft for just that reason.
Gold is really primo.
Transmutation doesn't get much funding. But you can actually make gold out of lead these days. Well, yes, technically transmutation is possible. It's just not very practical. Book of incantations.