Beware of fraud: the number of synthetic diamonds that are fraudulently proposed as natural is increasing ♦
Diamonds alarm. Experts report a surge in synthetic diamonds passed off as real. Time ago, a good number of these fake diamonds have been identified by the Gemological Institute of America in India. Gia, in fact, discovered an unusually large number of undeclared synthetic diamonds, which were mixed with natural diamonds.
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To be precise, 101 synthetic diamonds were identified in a pack of 323 stones from the Mumbai laboratory of Gia. All small: 0.014 to 0.015 carats. The problem is that the analysis service has been offered since last years: how many fake stones have been certified as authentic before? It is not, in fact, the first time that a fraud falls on the network: the first major discovery of undeclared synthetic stones occurred in May 2012, when several hundred CVD diamonds were sent to the Gemological Institute (IGI) of Antwerp and Mumbai, with the aim of being certified as natural diamonds.
Even these fake diamonds were created with the technique called CVD (it is not the only system): it is an acronym that indicates the technique that allows you to manufacture diamonds with the deposition of chemical vapor. Basically, a mixture of hydrogen and methane is subjected to very high temperatures (about 900 degrees). At that point the molecules split and transformed into carbon elements are deposited on a tiny element of silicon, tungsten, molybdenum, silicon carbide, silicon nitride or quartz glass. The crystals that are formed have the same texture and appearance as those of a natural diamond. The process is expensive, but for small diamonds it is extremely convenient. Except for those who believe in buying a natural diamond.
That discovered in India was not the only case of fraud: in accordin to BBC, on the Alibaba e-commerce site, for example, advertisements were discovered that offered synthetic diamonds as natural.
This type of fraud worries large mining companies. The answer could be the use of blockchain, a technology that guarantees the authenticity of any transaction and allows us to trace the origin of any object or sale that is registered on this platform. Everledger in Australia and De Beers’ Tracr are examples of the use of blockchain technology. Russian diamond mining giant Alrosa also announced last fall that it will join the Tracr platform. Problem solved? Unfortunately not: not all diamonds mounted on the jewelry on sale come from these big manufacturers. Federico Graglia
