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IGI Identifies 6ct. Lab-Grown Submitted as Natural
Jun 10, 2021 6:01 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... The International Gemological Institute (IGI) has discovered a 6.18-carat synthetic diamond that fraudsters had misrepresented as natural by falsely pairing it with a mined-diamond grading report.
“This is the largest lab-grown diamond ever certified by a leading gemological laboratory where the sole purpose was to pass off a lab-grown stone as natural,” Bob Van Es, IGI managing director for Thailand and Hong Kong, said Wednesday.
A client submitted the round brilliant-cut loose stone to IGI’s Thailand lab for verification purposes. It came with a certificate from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) for a natural, D-flawless diamond, but had in fact been cut with “meticulous precision” to match the data on that report, IGI noted. The stone was also inscribed with a fake GIA laser number corresponding to the certificate.
IGI has noted a rise in consumers sending diamonds to a second lab for checking, which can help avoid getting duped by fraudsters.
“At IGI, we have seen a huge increase in double-verification demand, which means before going for a major purchase, consumers like to receive confirmation that the stone matches the original report,” Van Es noted.
Image: Diamond grading. (International Gemological Institute)
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Tags:
Bob Van Es, diamonds, Gemological Institute of America, GIA, IGI, International Gemological Institute, lab-grown, lab-grown diamond, Rapaport News
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