Rise of the Lab Grown Clone

It's impossible to say how many lab growns are being "cloned".

But it's a type of fraud that's clearly on the increase.

And the widening price differential between natural and lab grown is only going to act as an incentive for more criminal activity.

Cloned diamonds are lab growns that are deliberately cut and polished to match the exact carat weight and other attributes of a natural stone.

They're inscribed with a lab report number and sold on at a considerable profit.

An unsuspecting customer may well hand over their cash. After all, the diamond comes with a certificate from a reputable lab that matches the number inscribed on its girdle.

And that's the weak point in the certification system that's open to exploitation.

There's a direct parallel with here with cloned cars. They all have a unique 17-character vehicle identification number (VIN) on the dashboard, driver's side door and engine block.

But criminals routinely replace the VIN on a stolen car or on a badly-fixed wreck, with one from a legitimate car of the same make and model. They create what's known as a "ringer".

Last week IGI highlighted the case of a 6.01-ct pear-cut diamond that was submitted, supposedly as a natural stone, to their lab in Ramat Gan, Israel, for regrading.

The laser inscription matched that of a genuine GIA report, but on close inspection there were many discrepancies. It was clearly a CVD stone.

But to the naked eye, and even with a microscope to read the inscription, it looked like the real thing.

Such cases are rare, Tehmasp Printer, CEO at IGI tells us. But the fraudulent stones that are caught by a lab are only the tip of an iceberg, he says.

Many more are sold as seen, unchecked by any lab

"A person who's buying a diamond, especially a large one, should be very cautious and very careful before they part with their money to submit it for reverification," he says.

"The diamond is already certified, and it has a report, but you have to validate it again."

Reputable labs will always detect a clone, he says. They have the equipment and the expertise.

But nobody knows how many buyers take the seller's certificate on trust and don't bother to have the stone checked.

"More and more people are trying to make a quick buck," he warns.

Most, though not all, of IGI's 29 labs have spotted cloned stones, he says. They're generally the larger diamonds, simply because there's more money to be made.

His labs will remove and replace the fraudulent inscription from a diamond, he says, issue a new certificate and hand it back to the client.

"Our responsibility lies in the identification of the fraud, and then informing the trade about it," he says. "We are not the police, we don't have any jurisdiction."

IGI is far from being the only lab to have spotted cloned stones. Only last month the Italian lab Gem-Tech issued a fraud warning after three one-carat diamonds, all submitted on the same day, were found to be CVD lab growns.

They were all accompanied by paper GIA grading reports which described them as natural round brilliant F / VS1. They matched, but there was a clear anomaly when they were exposed to UV light to detect fluorescence.

And this week GIA announced it will be offering same-day verification of its inscriptions to combat the escalating levels of fraud.

"It is not lab growns that are the problem," says Tehmasp Printer. "It is people intent on swindling that are the problem."

Have a fabulous weekend.