The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is now offering a same-day verification service to counter the influx of lab-grown diamonds bearing bogus GIA inscriptions.

GIA’s same-day service, which aims to verify if a diamond with a GIA inscription matches the official GIA report number, was first launched in New York and will be made available in other GIA locations within the month.

“Combatting this fraud is vital to protecting the public and ensuring their confidence in gems and jewellery – this is GIA’s mission,” said GIA President and CEO Susan Jacques. “We, like Tiffany, Cartier and other well-known global companies who are vigilant about protecting their valuable brands from counterfeiting and fraud, will take vigorous action to protect GIA and the trust consumers place in us.”

According to GIA, some lab-grown or treated diamonds cut to closely resemble the attributes and measurements of a GIA-graded natural, untreated diamond carry counterfeit inscriptions with a GIA report number for a nearly matching natural untreated diamond. Other labs also reported similar counterfeit GIA inscriptions.

GIA also urged other gemmological laboratories, industry organisations, companies or individuals to report any instance of counterfeiting of GIA inscriptions to the authorities and GIA. 

“It is estimated that there are approximately 10,000 high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) presses in China producing lab-grown diamonds. In India, the number of carbon vapor deposition (CVD) reactors is almost 7,000, producing as much as one million carats each month, with plans for a significant increase,” revealed GIA.