- Joined
- Sep 19, 2004
- Messages
- 2,547
Recently there was a thread about starting a business, and security and theft issues were identified as major issues. It turns out that "smash & grab, or other theft/muggings" are becomming more common. It seems that every jeweler I have personnaly talke to indicates that they either have been robbed - or personnally know''s of someone in the area who has been robbed.
There was also an approximate $120 Million diamond theft fairly recently (in the last year or so) in I believe Amsterdam.
Theft of diamond rings from people is also common as part of any mugging.
Which leads me to wonder:
1) Where are these diamonds being sold - if vendors only buy from their suppliers.
2) What percentage of the diamond trade represents diamond theft at the broker to consumer stage (I am aware of the issues in certain (a specific few) african countries where it is estimated that up to 30% of the diamond rough from the area is considered stolen).
3) if someone with good providance on a diamond (original sales reciept) gets an average of 1/3 of the purchase price in the US - just how little is the stolen diamonds selling for (I did see one article that indicated that the theif only got $100 - $200 per carat). I do note that apparently people planning on fleeing the US for various reasons like to convert all cash into diamonds - so their must be a good mechanism outside of the US to convert diamonds back into cash at a reasonable rate.
4) How many "dishonest" jewelers do you think are out there who occasionally "fence" a diamond and slip it into their store inventory. I do note that I am aware of one Insurance fraud case in my neck of the woods where the jeweler reported a theft years ago, and was recently caught selling one of the "stolen" diamonds (apparently they had been slipping in a diamond, bracelet, etc here and there for the last several years).
5) How does a jeweler verify that a person is an honest owner of a diamond they are resetting or trading up on? I am sure that it must be dicey to consider buying used diamonds for just these reasons.
How can I, or any of the other honest people here, be sure that we are not buying a stolen diamond - if that is at all possible.
Thoughts anyone?
Perry
There was also an approximate $120 Million diamond theft fairly recently (in the last year or so) in I believe Amsterdam.
Theft of diamond rings from people is also common as part of any mugging.
Which leads me to wonder:
1) Where are these diamonds being sold - if vendors only buy from their suppliers.
2) What percentage of the diamond trade represents diamond theft at the broker to consumer stage (I am aware of the issues in certain (a specific few) african countries where it is estimated that up to 30% of the diamond rough from the area is considered stolen).
3) if someone with good providance on a diamond (original sales reciept) gets an average of 1/3 of the purchase price in the US - just how little is the stolen diamonds selling for (I did see one article that indicated that the theif only got $100 - $200 per carat). I do note that apparently people planning on fleeing the US for various reasons like to convert all cash into diamonds - so their must be a good mechanism outside of the US to convert diamonds back into cash at a reasonable rate.
4) How many "dishonest" jewelers do you think are out there who occasionally "fence" a diamond and slip it into their store inventory. I do note that I am aware of one Insurance fraud case in my neck of the woods where the jeweler reported a theft years ago, and was recently caught selling one of the "stolen" diamonds (apparently they had been slipping in a diamond, bracelet, etc here and there for the last several years).
5) How does a jeweler verify that a person is an honest owner of a diamond they are resetting or trading up on? I am sure that it must be dicey to consider buying used diamonds for just these reasons.
How can I, or any of the other honest people here, be sure that we are not buying a stolen diamond - if that is at all possible.
Thoughts anyone?
Perry
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