Buyers Beware of Fake Glittering Mistakes
October 2006
Concerned with the increasing number of Australian consumers being conned when buying jewellery, the Gemmological Association of Australia (GAA) and the Diamond Guild of Australia (DGA) have joined forces in urging consumers to be very careful – especially when purchasing diamonds and gemstones.
This warning by the two highest diamond and gemstone authorities in Australia comes after a disturbing increase in the complaints by consumers of jewellery purchases which have turned out to include fake, synthetic, inferior quality, treated and fracture-filled gems and often accompanied by fake and misleading certificates.
Many of these purchases have occurred on eBay or by consumers when travelling abroad.
Bill Sechos, founder of the Australian Gem Studies Laboratory and spokesperson for the GAA, says that the rise of dodgy and unsubstantiated gem and diamond descriptions on eBay, the Internet and in retail outlets is astounding.
“We have had customers come in with diamonds they purchased on eBay for thousands of dollars only to find out that they are far below the quality that they believe they have bought. Often they turn out to be a man-made artificial stone such as cubic zirconia (CZ) or paste and are practically worthless,” he says.
It’s a trend he has also noticed with Australian travellers returning from Asia and South America with gemstones and diamonds they’ve purchased believing them to be authentic and discovering through a gemmological test that they are either a synthetic or a different stone entirely.
According to Bill, these customers claim that many sellers provided certification and valuations of the diamonds and gemstones, which they thought were legitimate.
“Anyone with a computer can print an authentic-looking but worthless diamond, or gemstone certificate,” he says.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, under the Trade Practices Act 1974, offers some protection for consumers buying jewellery in Australia.
The GAA has recently written to eBay to alert the world’s largest global marketplace to the growing number of misleading and incorrect descriptions of diamonds and gemstones being offered for sale by auction and private sale.
“One common inaccurate description is to describe a cubic zirconia as a “synthetic diamond” which infers that it is a diamond that has been man made in a laboratory, when cubic zirconia has no chemical or physical properties even remotely similar to a diamond,” says Bill.
For example, a diamond and a cubic zirconia both exactly the same size could vary in price from as much as $200,000 and $5.
The GAA has also alerted eBay to the fact that a number of sellers are producing fake certifications from bogus organisations – such as the Gemmological Institute of Australia – which does not exist.
Chairman of the DGA and GAA graduate, Cameron Marks of Sydney’s high-end jeweller Percy Marks, is also concerned with the damage being done to consumers by disreputable and uneducated sellers.
According to Cameron, there is no way that the average consumer can tell the difference between a fake diamond, such as a cubic zirconia and a real diamond. Nor can a consumer identify whether the diamond has been treated with heat or pressure to change the colour – or whether it has been fracture filled – a practice he explains is like a motor dealer selling a car as brand new when in fact it has been patched together from wrecks and touched up.
Both fracture filling (a term to describe injecting a colourless substance into a crack in the diamond to make the diamond look better and clearer) and treatments can have a significant impact on the diamond’s stability as well as its value. A reputable jeweller will disclose fracture filling and treatment.
“There are also a lot of gemstones such as cubic zirconia, and even white sapphires, clear spinels, quartz and white zircons which have been substituted for diamonds and only a qualified gemmologist would be able to positively identify these stones,” says Cameron.
And to further complicate the picture, in 2002 a new stone was created in the laboratory called synthetic moissanite, which has some similar characteristics to a diamond and requires professional gemmological testing to be identified.
“In total there are well over 50 stones that can easily pass as a diamond to the untrained eye.”
Cameron says he is especially concerned for people who have bought diamond engagement rings from a website. “In so many cases they have invested with such emotion, yet their purchases turn out to be worthless.”
The advice from both the GAA and DGA for consumers buying gemstones and diamonds is to only do so from a reputable source.
“When shopping for gemstones or diamonds, either online or bricks and mortar, only buy from a respected jeweller, preferably someone who has credentials from the GAA, such as a Certificate IV or Diploma in Gemmological Studies or is accredited with the Diamond Guild of Australia or Jewellery Association of Australia,” says Bill.
“Also every diamond should come with an independent grading report from an accredited gemmological laboratory.”
