It is said that diamonds are a girl's best friend, but you need to be careful when you buy them. There are many ways to make a flawed or cheap diamond look better and plenty of unscrupulous people to sell them to you. When you are shopping for a diamond take the time to really check it out before buying.

There are many tricks of the trade for diamond sellers, one of them is lighting. In very bright lights a stone will shine much more brightly. The best light to look at a diamond is in the sun light. The sun light will also help you to spot any flaws or inclusions that appear as dark spots or they can look milky. There are laser techniques that can be used to eliminate the dark spots, but when drilling into the stone it can become weakened and crack when it is struck with a good force. Some jewelers fill in these laser holes with a synthetic substance that can't be seen by the naked eye, but a trained gemologist can spot them. It will also lower the value of the stone.

Another trick is to put a dot of color on the tip of the stone. If the stone is yellow, a touch of purple paint will diffuse the yellowness and make the stone appear to be a more expensive clear diamond. This will have the jeweler giving the stone a higher grade, which means a higher price to you.

Carat weight is another big scam. The jeweler might tell you a total carat weight for a single piece that seems like a lot and looking at it you may think it is the biggest stone, but it is actually the weight of all the diamonds put together. They might tell you a piece is five carats when there is actually a single three carat diamond and eight quarter carat diamonds around it. A reputable jeweler will give you the broken down weight of a piece when you ask.

Another way to hide flaws in a diamond is to hide them under the setting. A stone usually has flaws around the outside that can be hidden under the prongs that hold them secure or under a piece of the ornament, so make sure you take a good look at the whole diamond when buying.

There are jewelers that can switch the stones when the piece has been taken in for repair or appraisal. The way to make sure it is your stone is to have it checked when you buy it and have the gemologist give you a certificate with the stones characteristics on it. If there is any doubt if the stone is the original, you can have it checked again.