Beware fake gemstone scam

ANOTHER scam is threatening to rock the multimillion-dollar mineral specimen industry in Namibia.

In the latest scam, two different gemstones are glued together and sold as if it had come out of the ground as one rock.It is alleged that the swindle first reared its head amongst traders. Miners allegedly followed suit after they realised that the traders were cashing in.According to miner and trader James Wallace, the problem is particularly prevalent in Windhoek but it happens all over the country.He said: ‘Traders started making a combination of different mineral specimens and then they sell it as if had been natural.’ He said that an Usakos couple had recently bought one of these fake specimens for N$15 000.’Someone might say it is an art piece, but it’s actually not. It is fraud. They are knocking people.’Wallace said the crooks mainly target people ‘whom they think have money’, especially tourists. The swindlers then introduce the unsuspecting people to ‘buyers’ who are only available over the telephone. Once the stones have been sold to these people and they try and get hold of these ‘buyers’, they realise these ‘buyers’ are not interested anymore or their phones have been disconnected in the meantime. As a result, they are left with the stones.’Because if you sell the stones further, you are also a crook,’ Wallace said.Upon enquiry, Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, a Police spokesperson in Windhoek, said he was not aware of the alleged incidents. He said the Police could only act if criminal cases were registered.Petra Ondigo of the Rössing Foundation, who deals with small miners in the Erongo Region, said it was impossible to eradicate the problem if the sellers were not known. According to her, they are planning to issue identification certificates to all the small miners in the region.Wallace said Namibia was renowned for its mineral specimens and scams like these tarnished the country’s image.Earlier, it was reported that in another scam, worthless stones were sold as precious minerals.