Like most valuable gemstones, false claims, mispresentations, and fraudulent practices exist for the sale of sapphires. Always have your sapphire checked by a qualified gemologist-appraiser before closing the sale. Any fine sapphire purchased today should have a laboratory report with it. Here are some sapphire scams that you should watch out for when buying sapphires:

1. Filling fractures or cracks in the sapphire with filler material in order to hide fractures, or improve clarity or color. This treatment is also not permanent and in fact may hide a stone that is defective structurally.

2. Using blue foil on the back of a closed-back jewelry piece in order to intensify the color of a pale or poor-quality sapphire. This is more commonly found in antique sapphire jewelry.

3. Selling an sapphire doublet, which is a composite stone comprised a real sapphire top bonded to a colored glass bottom. This is more commonly found in antique jewelry.