If a certificate adds value to an article, someone will make certificates. The laboratory sees three kinds: outright forgeries with a laboratory's name on them; genuine cards altered to say something better; and genuine, unaltered cards transferred from the article they describe to a different one. Each is caught by a different check, and all three are caught by verifying against the register and matching the article.
Outright forgeries
A card printed to look like a real laboratory's, with an invented report number, or with a real number copied from a genuine card.
Tells. No online verification, or verification only on a page the seller controls. A laboratory name with no findable address, telephone or website. Printing quality that does not match — blurred logos, misaligned text, a QR code that goes somewhere unexpected. Fields missing that a real report has: no weight, no measurements, no photograph, no tests named. Language that a laboratory would not use: valuations, astrological claims, praise for the seller.
The check. Verify the number and PIN on the laboratory's own site. A forgery with an invented number returns no record. A forgery with a copied number returns the real record — for a different article, with a different photograph and weight.
Altered genuine cards
A real card, scanned, edited (a 5 becomes a 7; heated is removed; Indonesia becomes Nepal) and reprinted; or a real card physically altered.
Tells. Inconsistency between fields — a compartment count that does not match the mukhi count, a conclusion that does not follow from the findings, an RI that does not match the species named. Printing that is subtly different in one field. A surface that has been scraped or overwritten.
The check. Verification returns the original record. The record is authoritative; the card is not. Compare every line.
Transferred cards
A genuine, unaltered card for a genuine article, sold with a different article — a fine bead's certificate with a lesser bead; a natural sapphire's report with a synthetic.
Tells. None on the card itself, because it is real. The article is wrong.
The check. Matching. Weight to two decimal places, dimensions to a tenth of a millimetre, and the photograph. A transferred card almost never matches, because finding a second article of identical weight and dimensions is very hard. Matching the report to the article in your hand.
The details forgers get wrong
- The PIN. A forged card may carry a PIN that returns no record, or no PIN at all. A card without a PIN cannot be verified against a PIN-protected register.
- The QR code. Pointing to the seller's site, to nowhere, or encoding the PIN (which a careful laboratory never does, since it would let anyone with a photograph of the code view the record).
- The report number format. Each laboratory has a scheme. A number in the wrong format is a warning.
- The photograph. Missing, generic, or of a different article.
- The tests. "X-ray tested" with no compartment count; "lab tested" with no RI or SG for a gemstone.
- The date. A date before the laboratory existed; a date that does not match the report number sequence.
- Perfection. Forged cards are sometimes cleaner and glossier than the originals, because they were printed once rather than in a production run.
The seller's role
A seller who provides the report number and encourages independent verification has nothing to hide. A seller who provides only a photograph of the card, or who verifies it for you on their own page, or who says the laboratory "does not do online verification", is managing what you can check. Ask for the number and check it yourself. Red flags when buying gemstones or Rudraksha online.
What to do if a certificate is fake
Photograph the card, the article and any packaging. Save the verification result (a screenshot of "no record found", or of the mismatching record). Contact the laboratory named on the card — laboratories want to know when their name is being used — and the seller, and the platform through which the purchase was made. An independent report on the article from a laboratory of your choice strengthens any claim.
Frequently asked questions
Can a laboratory tell me if a card is theirs?
Yes. Contact them with the report number and a photograph of the card. Verification online does the same thing automatically.
The card verifies and the record matches the card. Is the article genuine?
The card is genuine. Whether the article is the one on the card is the matching step; whether that article is genuine is what the record's conclusion says.
What if the laboratory on the card has closed?
Its register may no longer be accessible, and the card cannot be verified. Treat the article as undocumented and have it tested afresh.
Can a QR code be forged?
A QR code is just an encoded address; anyone can print one. What matters is where it goes and what the record there says.
Are paper certificates safer than cards?
Neither format is safer. What matters is the register behind it and the ability to verify against it.