There is always a risk when trying to acquire some new jewellery that you’re going to get ripped off. In the case of diamonds, determining whether or not they’re counterfeit is relatively easy, and can be done with a few simple tests which you can do, without even buying any equipment.
First method is the fog test; where you place the diamond close to your mouth, blow on it, and if it stays fogged up and doesn’t dissipate immediately, then you know it’s fake.
The sparkle test is another method which is useful, although difficult for the untrained eye. Simply put, diamonds are shinier than glass or other stones, so if it is brightly shining you’re probably good.
There are more methods, but they don’t really deal with another problem with buying diamonds, which is whether or not the diamond is natural or man-made. To perform this test, you need to use a jeweller’s loupe, which you can use to check whether the diamond has small imperfections, known as inclusions, which identifies it as a natural diamond. The imperfections are typically small particles of other minerals inside the diamond, or slight shifts in colour tone in the stone.