Business man in Surat India sells fraudulent GIA certs with lab diamonds

[blingmeupscotty]

GIA Says Fake Inscriptions, Reports Accompanied Lab-Grown, Treated Diamonds

<p>In August, the Times of India reported that a businessman in Surat, India, had been charged with selling diamonds that had fake GIA inscriptions. The inscriptions were linked to GIA grading reports that indicated the accompanying diamonds had higher-quality characteristics than they actually...

www.jckonline.com

 

[John Pollard]

(@Ella if needed, move to MMD forum)

This happened with a single 6.18 carat stone in in June, with an added layer of sophistication. The stone had been submitted to IGI Thailand with an accompanying GIA report for verification. The lab quickly determined it was a lab grown diamond - with matching color-clarity, finish and fake inscription - which had also been cut and polished specifically to match the proportions data on the GIA report.

It may come as no surprise that labs are seeing an increased number of double-verification business.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

This type of fraud has always been around and not that hard to do. It is easier for larger diamonds that have not had a laser inscription applied since those stones would need the inscription polished off.
Those original diamonds would be resubmitted to the same or a different lab so the number would need to be polished off.
It is called recycling as in recycling the grading report with a lesser value diamond - so easy now with very low cost LGD's.

I have often wondered how many slip through?
It is very common for a diamond to have GIA IGI and HRD and other certs - often legitimately, since each report has a different market and which ever one sells first is the winner. So then you have one, to or more 'left over' certs.
The temptation must be more than some nearly bankrupt or plain greedy dealers could handle.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

But Wait, There's More:

A similar case to the one posted here - but with a twist:
"In addition, the new submission displayed a typical CVD growth structure, with a green-blue layered pattern and banded layers indicating a start-stop growth. A High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) treatment had been applied to the synthetic stone post-growth."

Diamonds.net - GIA Spots ‘Precise’ Attempt at Lab-Grown Fraud

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has uncovered a synthetic diamond with a forged inscription that fraudsters used to “precisely match” a similar natural stone.A round brilliant, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) stone weighing 3.078 carats was submitted to the GIA’s Antwerp lab for its...

www.diamonds.net

 

[rockysalamander]

But Wait, There's More:

A similar case to the one posted here - but with a twist:
"In addition, the new submission displayed a typical CVD growth structure, with a green-blue layered pattern and banded layers indicating a start-stop growth. A High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) treatment had been applied to the synthetic stone post-growth."

Diamonds.net - GIA Spots ‘Precise’ Attempt at Lab-Grown Fraud

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has uncovered a synthetic diamond with a forged inscription that fraudsters used to “precisely match” a similar natural stone.A round brilliant, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) stone weighing 3.078 carats was submitted to the GIA’s Antwerp lab for its...

www.diamonds.net

What does the post treatment gain the seller?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

What does the post treatment gain the seller?

I presume they are trying to make the stone show up as natural?

 

[yssie]

This is something that would never have occurred to me to worry about.

Reason number five million to buy from a reputable, established, and trusted vendor with in-house stones or at least in-house examination of sourced stones…

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

This is exceptionally concerning! Is there any possibility that the inscription can be faked?!

What I mean is, my understanding is that currently they are “grade shopping” - which is not illegal, and many stones can be double certified - and are polishing off the inscription to do so. But they are still presenting a (hypothetical example) K SI1 GIA natural stone with number G12345678 to IGI, hoping to get J VS2 or better, and have polished off the GIA number to aid them in doing so.

Or, they have a lab grown diamond with the proportions, weight and colour/clarity as per a natural diamond report; and they are passing off the lab grown as natural. But there is no inscription on the lab grown diamond, so if the buyer wants to get the stone inscribed by sending to GIA, presumably this fact will come out.

What concerns me is the possibility of faking a GIA inscription on a diamond. The way I would check a diamond I buy is by confirming that the clarity plot and the inscription is correct. But what if the inscription is faked? I would never know! So how likely/possible is that??

 

[John Pollard]

But what if the inscription is faked? I would never know! So how likely/possible is that??

Traditional inscriptions are easy to polish off. New inscriptions can be added if you have the right equipment. This was the historic low-hanging fruit of grading-report fraud - polishing off a diamond's inscription and putting on a fraudulent inscription that matched the grading report for a higher-value diamond. It's why carat-weight to 2 decimals and clarity characteristics are regularly verified by pros, along with the inscription.

To overcome that possibility with Forevermark diamonds, DeBeers' developed a proprietary inscription that's applied to the diamond's table facet. They keep that technology confidential so it can't be replicated (so far). The confounder is that the inscription can only be seen with a special viewer, unlike a 30x loupe or gemological microscope every pro has on hand to verify traditional inscriptions.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Traditional inscriptions are easy to polish off. New inscriptions can be added if you have the right equipment. This was the historic low-hanging fruit of grading-report fraud - polishing off a diamond's inscription and putting on a fraudulent inscription that matched the grading report for a higher-value diamond. It's why carat-weight to 2 decimals and clarity characteristics are regularly verified by pros, along with the inscription.

To overcome that possibility with Forevermark diamonds, DeBeers' developed a proprietary inscription that's applied to the diamond's table facet. They keep that technology confidential so it can't be replicated (so far). The confounder is that the inscription can only be seen with a special viewer, unlike a 30x loupe or gemological microscope every pro has on hand to verify traditional inscriptions.

Does that mean that if the clarity characteristics and the ct wt up to 2 decimal places match, then the chances of the stone being fraudulent are super unlikely?

 

[John Pollard]

Does that mean that if the clarity characteristics and the ct wt up to 2 decimal places match, then the chances of the stone being fraudulent are super unlikely?

Super isn't a gemological descriptor but yes, it's highly unlikely in normal channels.

I say 'normal' as a nod to @yssie 's 5,000,000th reason, above. Standard jewelry professional practice is to "weigh/verify" a diamond's inscriptions and accompanying report anytime it's crossing a threshold - whether arriving or outbound. Since jewelers tend to do business only with others they trust it's super unlikely a rogue fraudulent stone could penetrate their "normal channels" in routine business.

Dangerous #1: OTC intake. Jewelers who buy gold often buy pre-loved diamonds. Unfortunately, most don't have equipment capable of detecting LGDs someone crafty may be trying to pass off as a beloved aunt's heirloom piece. Of course the buying jeweler will (likely) send it to a major lab - but there is a real possibility they could be fooled at POS.

IGI has been solving this for jewelers with their finished jewelry screening service. Before finalizing an OTC sale an independent jewelers could use IGI to analyze pieces and confirm they are as-promised. Currently I'm told they're screening millions of carats of melee, separating natural from LGD for use in different applications by brands and designers.

Dangerous #2: Bad actors. That's what started this thread, and it poses the most risk. Someone with sophisticated enough equipment and knowledge to take an existing report, find LGD rough that has similar color and clarity characteristics (easy to do for Flawless, eh?) and even polish it to the proportions and mm measurements on the existing report. Finding victims for their fraud is another thing. This is why what @Garry H (Cut Nut) mentioned - getting several reports for one stone, GIA, IGI, HRD, etc. - is now being practiced for dual-layers of protection/verification as much as appeal to different world markets.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Super isn't a gemological descriptor but yes, it's highly unlikely in normal channels.

I say 'normal' as a nod to @yssie 's 5,000,000th reason, above. Standard jewelry professional practice is to "weigh/verify" a diamond's inscriptions and accompanying report anytime it's crossing a threshold - whether arriving or outbound. Since jewelers tend to do business only with others they trust it's super unlikely a rogue fraudulent stone could penetrate their "normal channels" in routine business.

Dangerous #1: OTC intake. Jewelers who buy gold often buy pre-loved diamonds. Unfortunately, most don't have equipment capable of detecting LGDs someone crafty may be trying to pass off as a beloved aunt's heirloom piece. Of course the buying jeweler will (likely) send it to a major lab - but there is a real possibility they could be fooled at POS.

IGI has been solving this for jewelers with their finished jewelry screening service. Before finalizing an OTC sale an independent jewelers could use IGI to analyze pieces and confirm they are as-promised. Currently I'm told they're screening millions of carats of melee, separating natural from LGD for use in different applications by brands and designers.

Dangerous #2: Bad actors. That's what started this thread, and it poses the most risk. Someone with sophisticated enough equipment and knowledge to take an existing report, find LGD rough that has similar color and clarity characteristics (easy to do for Flawless, eh?) and even polish it to the proportions and mm measurements on the existing report. Finding victims for their fraud is another thing. This is why what @Garry H (Cut Nut) mentioned - getting several reports for one stone, GIA, IGI, HRD, etc. - is now being practiced for dual-layers of protection/verification as much as appeal to different world markets.

Thank you so much for your detailed response @John Pollard! I was asking because it just made me nervous for any purchases I might make in the future. But I don’t see myself as someone buying D IF goods and I would only buy from a vendor who I trust, so hopefully I would be safe

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Adding weight to Johns comments
GIA and other better labs weigh diamonds to the fourth decimal place on very accurate scales. The convention in the diamond industry is to round up from the third decimal place from 0.009 rather than the usual 0.005. So a 0.995 carat diamond is 0.99ct and a 0.999ct diamond weighs 1.00ct.

GIA, IGI and HRD for example each have a legitimate different market. Whichever diamond sells first leaves the dealer with 'left over' certs. The temptation must be more than some nearly Covid bankrupt or plain greedy dealers can handle.