It's getting more and more common for unethical sellers to try and trick buyers by switching around GIA grading reports. Just fairly recently, the GIA laboratory in hong kong found a treated diamond that carried a false inscription created by fraudsters in order to pass a stone off as natural-untreated. In accompaniment to this stone, was a carefully selected grading report for an untreated diamond. The report was for another stone that had very similar characteristics to the treated stone.
Treated diamonds, whether by laser drilling, fracture filling or other methods of enhancement, do not possess the same value as untreated stones. Even if both are of natural origin, a treated diamond has been improved by artificial means by manufacturers. This can be done to enhance apparent clarity (for example, by bleaching out black inclusions using acid), or apparent color so that the stone can become more marketable.
The treatment of diamonds is a wonderful step taken within the international jewelry scene, so long as it is documented ethically and transparently. Diamonds nowadays seem to be the target of con-artists, who specialize in tricking unsuspecting buyers with their savvy personalities and crafty manipulations.
This particular 6+ carat stone had a fake laser imprint that showed GIA's name and a number. The laboratory tried to match it with a report they had issued a few months back for a stone with the same number, and inconsistencies were found. This new stone was diagnosed to be treated for color improvement using HPHT procedures.
“This case should raise awareness among the industry and the public that, although rarely encountered in larger stones, this kind of fraud does exist,” -mentioned by Billie Law of GIA Hong Kong
Previously in 2017, GIA had also identified a synthetic diamond with a forged inscription by some people trying to pass it off as a natural stone.
According to other sources, last month- China’s National Gemstone Testing Center mentioned that it had received a 3.10 ct. synthetic / man-made diamond ring carrying a fake report and inscription that falsely presented it as a natural diamond.
Our own in-house gemologists who have studied at GIA's campuses in the past, agree that nowadays the feasibility of diamond fraud has to be considered, even here in the Philippines. Synthetic and treated diamonds are great products as long as they are sold with the proper and ethical disclosure that buyers need.
Here at Gemcamp, we do encounter synthetic and treated diamonds that owners were unaware of. By using advanced spectrometric instrumentation and software obtained formally from GIA's instrument division (although we ourselves are an independent laboratory group), we can also do our part to help safeguard the Philippine jewelry buyers' interests against possible fraudulent people.
(Image credits to the Gemological Institute of America, Tony Leung and Billie Law. This editorial article was done in the efforts to help propagate the awareness of fraudulent operations here in Southeast Asia.)
