Smart Ways to avoid online Diamond scams
From spending $60,000 for a $7 zirconia stone mistaking it as a diamond to switcharoo, there are endless ways how online scams on diamond buyers run. Being on your guard is not only mandatory to get your dream rock, but also make sure what you’re priding isn’t going to be a faux to madden your fiancé or dissolve your engagement as well!
The diamond market is flooded with fake diamonds, rocks and stones that are made to look like diamonds and coated diamonds. If you’re not wary of every scam in the diamond industry, you might lose your money and even engagement!
Scams when buying diamonds online
Internet has inverted the value and spread of diamond industry for nuptials, but, there are many diamond geezers online who don’t even have a speck of diamond on them, yet con smartly. Making a spectacular inventory of electronic feeds with an attractive webpage is child’s play today.
· Major Scam
The major diamond scams are accounted to be huge in terms of the nature or length of impact of illicit bulk transaction or swindle by a diamond geezer. For example, a jeweler giving you a cheap rock by making the rock look like a precious diamond from multiple customers is a major diamond fraud.
· Minor Scam
Small in impact, minor scams are routine to most online jewelry stores. From salespeople overpricing diamonds with their verbiage to misleading customers are classified under minor diamond scams. This does not mean that 90% of online diamond geezers are swindlers, but for a slight grease or edge, many corrupt the diamond buying too!
20 Common Types of Online Diamond Scams
At Diamond Peace Army, we strive to ensure that diamond buyers are not conned by swindlers natural to most luxury industries. According to the Federal Trade Commission or FTC, there are many instructions for diamond buyers. If you feel that you have been tricked by any diamond geezer according to the following 20 online diamond buying scams, contact the nearest FTC or Better Business Bureau.
· Total Carat Weight
Also referred to as TCW, total carat weight refers to the total weight of the ornament. If your jeweler does not separately list the carat weight of the centre rock and the metal, you might be prey to a diamond scam!
Only with the right carat of the rock can you compare your jewelry and TCW is a common scam in online diamond buying. The best solution to the above is to request your jeweler to provide the separate weight of the rock and the metal in writing. If he or she refuses, walk away, thank your luck that you escaped the clasps of a fraud and share your story with us below!
· Bright Light
Another common scam done on novices buying diamond jewelry is using the harmless white light. All rocks, especially diamonds look fiery and radiant more than that of dimmer light. Certain fraudulent jewelers use a bluish tint to their setting which makes any diamond look whiter. Keeping aside that whiter the diamond, costlier it is; for low grade colors in diamonds, the rock creates a blue fluorescence. For online diamond images, make sure the image is not tampered with the light, if you see otherwise, move on!
Whenever you’re dubious about your buy because of the searing bright light, ask the salesperson to switch to another light and show you. If the same is denied, ask for an appraisal or certificate from a credible lab. Provided you don’t find fluorescence, buy the rock but if the diamond geezer refuses to the former, walk away.
· Fraction
One scam that is crude in its working is how diamond sellers round of the fractional weight of a diamond. In fact, FTC authorizes the sellers to round of a ¾ carat rock as anything from 0.61-0.81 carats. This also means that unless the seller discloses (which is your right) the exact weight of the rock, you are not sold the weight of the diamond that you are promised. Often a $1000 weight difference can occur with two ¾ carat rocks!
The best solution is to ask for the precise weight of the rock; if the seller refuses, move on to a credible seller!
· Chemical Coating
Yet another major scam with advanced skills in order to avoid, certain geezers also sells fake rocks coated in chemicals to radiate the sparkle of a diamond. These do not comprise the mainstream sellers and whenever buying from a little-known diamond jeweler, make sure to do your background check!
Chemical color coatings are deceptive diamond scams that use blue point to cover the culet of a diamond, which in turn sends a whiter color across the diamond, making it costlier! Masking the yellowness of the rock also makes it expensive. The best solution is to ask the seller to wash the diamond with an ultrasonic cleanser and show the results.
· Bait and Switch
A popular scam amongst online diamond purchases, bait and switch was a store used the trick, but has also reached many online diamond websites. The sellers used to use the hack to advertise a particular diamond at a cheap price, which gets sold by the time you get to the store. For online buyers, diamond scammers may send email newsletters of a great product coming for cheap but by the time the customer opens another browser and reaches the website, the offer disappears.
When the customer accesses the website, not only does the buffering speed interfere, but the product shows as sold, and lures the customer into other deals. This method uses a bait to draw the customer to buy another item! The best solution is to move on when you find out that your dream object is no longer available. Settle for nothing else!
· Good Ole Switcharoo
One of the major scams in online diamond buying, switcharoo is eponymous and defines as paying for a stone, but getting another (possibly a cheaper or fake one). If you’re trapped in this scam, fair escape is hard. Please beware and read carefully. The scam happens when you’ve selected a diamond and sent it for setting into your bauble.
The seller replaces your stone with another, which you get to know if you appraise the item only after leaving the store. In the past, records show that many jewelers have gotten away with the crime by accusing the customer of switching the precious stone with a fake. The best solution to this scam is to prevent it. Better yet, ask the jeweler to verify the same in writing when you buy it.
· 50% Off Mega Sale
The clearance or the most extravagant sales in the diamond industry always have a black force behind it. With diamond geezers having stores that have been in ‘Clearance’ sale mode for the past 15 years, mega sales are the biggest scams. Sellers inflate the price of items after striking out an exaggerated rate marked as ‘Previous Price’.
The best solution is to avoid buying your dream jewelry on a sale. If your jeweler has brought extreme drop for the prices, he might be the same cause the prices were up in the first place!
· Treated Diamonds
FCT mandatorily advocates sellers to elaborate all information about a diamond to the customer who is planning to buy it. The focus is on the history of treatments conducted on the diamond. Also known as fracture filling scam, treated diamonds are diamonds with flaws that are filled with materials to hide its flaws.
Treatments hide the flaws within the diamonds and the best solution to escape getting conned by this online diamond buying scam is by asking for the written guarantee, certificate, report or appraisal of the rock from a certified lab or GG.
· Pronging the Flaws
A minor scam, yet major in its degree of impact, often, diamonds with flaws are pronged to hide the inclusions. If you’ve not picked a loose diamond, but a jewelry, perhaps the smith has added prongs at the exact place where the flaws where. Only in the due course of time will the flaws develop into cracks to result in breaking the diamond.
The best solution is to check if the flaws are under the prongs are by preventing the buying of a damaged diamond or appraising the same. For a deep look at the diamond, buying a ring is not the ideal idea, but a loose diamond.
· Inflated Prices
Yet another gimmick of online diamond geezers is how they put up inflated price tags by consulting the stagnant- rapaport listings. They preach the price of a product such that the customer feels that he is getting a great deal by buying the jewelry.
The salesperson might provide biased price listings and compare the price tag of the product with a fake list, and then, offer either a lower price (the original price or higher) or low price tag. If you notice that the ad or salesperson is vouching for a mismatch with the product price, it is obvious that there is a hint of corruption involved.
· Exaggerated Grades
It is common for jewelers to trick amateur diamond buyers into believing that a lower grade diamond is that of a higher grade called grade bumping. When your diamond purchase is sans any certificate, the clarity, color and cut grade can differ as the flaws are not visible to the naked eye.
FTC advocates diamond sellers to provide the customer with rocks within one accurate grade. The best solution for the above online diamond scam is to certify your diamond.
· Fake Labs
A major scam in the online diamond buying scams, bogus certificates from non-existent labs can overthrow your suspicions too. These faux labs most probably are owned by the diamond vendor and often sound akin to original labs. For example, a fraudulent certificate is from Gemological Institutions of America, rather than Gemological Institute of America is bogus.
The best solution to counter this problem is research about the lab as certified by the jeweler or asks for a certificate from a credible lab. We do not want to come out as haters of small-scale labs, but bias as well the quality of judgment is substandard with the same too.
· Seller Appraisal
Yet another scam a jeweler can play on you is with in-house certifications or diamond reports. It is foolish to accept an appraisal of your diamond from the seller as there are countless instances of corruption possible. If your diamond seller is refusing to let you appraise the diamond with anyone but his own graduate gemologist, you must be suspicious and refuse the offer.
As many in-house GGs involve in exaggerating the value of a diamond often for merely impressing their customer with a cheap deal. Be wary and avoid such jewelers.
· Diamond Districts
There are many diamond districts to avoid if you’re sure that you do not want the blood diamonds. If your seller vouches that the diamond is sourced from Los Angeles, New York, Belgium, Chicago or Miami, refuse the offer. It is true that a major diamond trading centre exists in 47th Street, New York; however, they merely offer deals than diamonds. No major diamond trader buys the sparkles from the street.
Avoiding cheap deals where the seller advocates that the diamond is sourced from five places are often fake. Deny buying from these diamond districts to purchase a diamond worth your green!
· Lowball
Yet another little known yet a major scam is when an appraiser verifies your diamond and reports that it is a fake. The GG sympathises with you and refers you to another website where you can find genuine diamonds. This is merely a vicious trap to get the customer to exchange a valuable diamond for a fake one.
If the appraiser infers that your diamond is worthless, don’t take a new decision until you cross check it with another jeweler. Lowballing your diamond is degrading its quality and it is definite that if you buy from the appraiser-referrred jeweler, you’ll be conned!
· Fine Print Treated Diamonds from Ebay
After research amongst ebay reviews, we also find that many customers have been lured into buying a product because of misinformation. An important thing to check when buying diamonds online is if you’ve missed any fine print notice next to it.
You must always check the reputation and reviews of the seller prior to purchasing diamonds on Ebay. There are countless misrepresentations and you must always buy diamonds that come along with appraisals from certified labs.
· Deposit Scheme
A major scam that is cruel as well is the bogus deposits. Being a pricy buy, it is common for jewelers to request deposits or advance payment (a percentile of the total amount). However, the problem arises when the same is non-refundable. Fraudulent sellers claim later that the deposit is added to towards an in-house appraisal as well.
The best solution to the above is avoiding deposits until the jeweler guarantees that the same is refundable, in writing.
· Laser drilling
Akin to treated diamonds, laser drilled diamonds are also unlike diamonds. Laser drillings are done to fill the carbon spotting in a diamond. Sellers burn the carbon spots with laser drills to mar the flaw. However, the same leads to cracking and damage to the diamond in the due course.
Laser drilled diamonds are cheaper and it is the responsibility of the vendor to inform you about the same prior to purchase. The best solution to avoid this swindle is by certifying your diamond.
· Moissanite or Diamond-like stones
Major scams in online diamond purchases, fake diamond or diamond-like moissanites are also passed off as diamonds to gullible customers. Also known as CZ, these diamond duplicates can also be a switcharoo, but to a naïve customer, this can be a major scam!
The best solution is to get your rock appraised at all cost before buying to avoid such a large scale scam.
· Tourist Traps
Yet another major scam in online diamond buying experiences is the tourist traps. Often, innocent diamond buyers are tricked into buying fake or cheap diamonds when in foreign locations. It is highly advised that you avoiding buying diamonds from places that you’re touring, as there are null chances of appealing your case once your tour is over. When the seller knows you as a tourist, you are already vulnerable!
Getting a great deal in Cozumel is a waste when your uber-precious rock is uncertified. The best solution to avoid tourist traps is by appraising your buy or avoiding purchases from foreign diamond geezers.
Be safe when buying online!
Finally, you must always surf the internet to verify that your diamond jeweler has conductive satisfactory and honest transactions in his or her past selling record. Research and knowledge are the keys to keeping yourself safe from online diamond scams. Check our 100% accurate diamond reviews from DPA here. Buying diamonds online is a great option to save money, but making sure that you are getting what you paid for is important too!
If you need more clarifications about any scam above, leave us a comment below!