GIA to offer same-day report verification
According to GIA, it will continue to work with law enforcement on this issue by diligently reporting the circumstances and details of counterfeiting and fraud to the appropriate trade and law enforcement agencies
GIA has announced that it will offer clients a same day service to verify GIA inscriptions, beginning next week, confirming that a diamond with a GIA inscription matches the inscribed GIA report number.
The new service is offered in response to reports of fraudulent GIA inscriptions on laboratory-grown diamonds cut to nearly match the attributes and measurements of GIA-graded natural untreated diamonds.
In those cases, the fraudulent laboratory-grown or treated diamonds had counterfeit inscriptions with a GIA report number for a nearly matching natural untreated diamond. Other organisations are now reporting similar counterfeit GIA inscriptions.
For decades, GIA has trained law enforcement officers with basic diamond and gem identification knowledge so they can better understand the industry, including counterfeiting.
According to GIA, it will continue to work with law enforcement on this issue by diligently reporting the circumstances and details of counterfeiting and fraud to the appropriate trade and law enforcement agencies.
The institute also encourages any other gemological laboratory, industry organisation, company or individual to report any instance of counterfeiting of GIA inscriptions to the appropriate industry organisations and law enforcement and provide GIA with details of the fraudulent stones and the persons or organisations that submitted them.
GIA stated that further details of the service will be announced shortly and it will take appropriate measures, including legal action, to ensure the perpetrators and anyone complicit in the fraud face justice.
It is estimated that there are approximately 10,000 high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) presses in China producing laboratory-grown diamonds. In India, the number of carbon vapour deposition (CVD) reactors is almost 7,000, producing as much as one million carats each month, with plans for a significant increase.
Susan Jaques, GIA president and CEO, said: “Combatting this fraud is vital to protecting the public and ensuring their confidence in gems and jewellery – this is GIA’s mission. We, like Tiffany, Cartier and other well-known global companies who are vigilant about protecting their valuable brands from counterfeiting and fraud, will take vigorous action to protect GIA and the trust consumers place in us.”
