WFDB warns of synthetic diamonds fraudulently marked as natural

The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has announced it has been informed that a vendor on online wholesale trading platform, Alibaba, is offering fraudulent diamonds.

WFDB said the vendor is offering CVD lab-grown synthetic diamonds inscribed with the numbers of genuine GIA-graded natural diamonds reports.

The seller on Alibaba, an India-based company called International Trading Corporation (ITC), which only deals in synthetic and simulated gems, claims to have an ability to supply 10,000 carats of CVD diamonds per week and, on its website, that it has a “stock of more than 25,000 certified diamonds.”

WFDB president Ernie Blom was alerted by Chaim Even-Zohar, the editor of Diamond Intelligence Briefs (DIB), who exposed the fraudulent practice.

After posing as a buyer, the DIB gathered that the asking price for the fraudulently inscribed CVD diamonds was $100 (£70) per carat and up, with every stone of more than 0.15 carats allegedly carrying a genuine GIA natural diamond report.

The GIA’s senior vice-president, Tom Moses, has immediately launched an investigation into the fraudulent use of GIA certificates, in response to the revelation.

The DIB published a list of CVD synthetic diamonds, sized between 0.5-carat and 1-carat, which presumably have been inscribed with real GIA diamond report numbers and are being traded with genuine GIA natural diamond certificates.

The WFDB says another possibility is the diamonds are being traded with sophisticated fake certificates carrying the real number.

WFDB has uploaded the list to its website and is urging member bourses to do likewise. It said diamantaires having such stones or certificates in inventory may mostly likely possess “the real diamond” and may not need to worry, but the same inscription may nevertheless be in the market.

The WFDB has urged anyone who has acquired a stone with any of these numbers (either with or without a certificate) to contact Moses directly on his email at tmoses@gia.edu. It said it has been informed that there is no reason to resubmit the stone itself – unless the GIA has reason to make such request.