Fake GIA Cert/inscription detected / Tracing the source

[Queena]

Hi All,

One of our sales associates was doing some sales & marketing researches in a Middle Eastern country. Although we’ve heard horror scam stories in that country, and how the retail intentionally and unintentionally sell every stone as a D/VVS1 to their customers, whatever the real grade is (of course without cert, or with the retail shop certificate)

However, my associate found what we’ve had never imagined, he was touring some major retail shops in a high street market. He was acting as a customer, and he noticed many stores that sell high quality stones with GIA certs for very low prices, for example a retail shop offered him a 0.55-ct H/VVS1 for negotiable retail price of US$ 1280 (46% off the list!!), he examined the stone and he graded it as M-/VS2- stone. And surprisingly, he found that the girdle is laser inscribed with the number on the GIA cert. but the font wasn’t the same we used to see, and also the spacing between the numbers is very tight (numbers were touching each other). Moreover, after I checked few certs numbers, I found that most of them are valid! Also the dossier itself looks valid (watermarks, micro-fonts..etc).

My guess is, someone is collecting real GIA certificates (left by previous customers, or replacements issued by GIA..etc), then use them with other lower quality stones of close weight after inscribing the cert. number on its girdles.

Anyone met something like that or have any information about the source of this stones ? I knew that the main sources of diamonds in this country is Dubai and Thailand, but we’re trying to trace the source of those fake certs as it directly affect our business plans in that country. So any information would really appreciated…

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Eeww. That is bad.

Our Antwerp-dealer once had a similar problem. He was one of the first here to post scans of reports online (years ago) and he found out that they were printed out and used by fraudsters to accompany other stones. Actually, he found out because the Belgian police came after him and he had no idea about what was going on. He managed to explain himself, luckily.

Just to show that such scams are not new.

Live long,

 

[Tom Gelb]

I would suggest that you contact the GIA, as they are very concerned about this issue and would likely try to do something.

Good luck

 

[denverappraiser]

I've run into counterfeit reports before although never GIA branded but mismatched reports come through with some regularity. I'm not so surprised that someone is counterfeiting the laser inscriptions although I've never personally seen it. Lasers are just too easy to buy and criminals are just too clever to expect otherwise. So far, I've never seen the marketplace for unattached GIA reports but it surely exists in the shadows somewhere just like there's a market for 'genuine' Tiffany ring boxes.

If you're concerned about your purchase, get it evaluated by YOUR expert, not by some document provided by the seller. Including GIA. This is what GIA says on each and every report by the way.

 

[Todd Gray]

This is a good example of why it is always important to conduct due diligence when making a major purchase and one of the steps in doing so when purchasing a lab graded diamond is to verify the details of the lab report using the online report check features offered by most major gemological laboratories:

AGS: http://www.agslab.com/verify_diamond_grading_report.php
EGL-USA: http://www.eglusa.com/oresults/Search.html
GIA: http://www2.gia.edu/reportcheck/index.cfm
HRD: http://www.hrdantwerp.be/en/certification/online-certificates.aspx

This feature makes it possible for people to verify the details of a lab report on the fly with a smart phone! Of course, it is still possible for a lab report to be faked, but this makes it a little more challenging for people to be duped. I'm a firm believer that people should always have any diamond they are seriously considering evaluated by an independent Gemologist regardless of whether a diamond is lab graded or not, it is just good common sense and inexpensive protection that is often available to online buyers prior to purchase.

 

[NE Jewels]

We actually had a customer walk in and try to pull one of these tricks on us. It was a 1ct probably K color that had a G color cert although they weren't sophisticated enough to laser inscribe it themselves.

 

[Todd Gray]

We actually had a customer walk in and try to pull one of these tricks on us. It was a 1ct probably K color that had a G color cert although they weren't sophisticated enough to laser inscribe it themselves.

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that conversation