Fake Crystals a Growing Problem
The Rise of Fake Crystals, Particularly Online
I have to admit I've become slightly obsessed with companies that sell fake crystals online. The amount of fake material being sold to unsuspecting buyers is growing at an alarming rate.
It's not only consumers who are being scammed, but also small business owners.
As the practice of using crystals for healing has grown, hundreds of new businesses have appeared, many selling through online marketplaces and social media. Unfortunately, many of these sellers have limited scientific knowledge of rocks and minerals.
Although scientific knowledge isn’t a prerequisite for running a crystal business, a lack of knowledge has contributed to the growing amount of mislabelled, incorrectly identified, and treated material in the supply chain.
Many small business owners buy directly from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and China. China's technology is now so advanced that even those with considerable experience can struggle to determine whether a rock or mineral is real or fake.
Although the colour of some material from India and Pakistan has been enhanced, most of the world's fake crystals, and the most convincing, come from China.
Labradorite, moldavite, quartz, larimar, lapis lazuli, sunstone, malachite and ocean jasper are some of the most common fakes.
Green glass is often sold as moldavite. The tiny bubbles in polished moldavite that once distinguished real from fake can now be produced artificially.
Some rocks and minerals are dyed to mimic others or to make them appear to be a higher grade. Fine, translucent coatings can be used to enhance schiller in labradorite, and some and some highly iridescent labradorite stones are resin or clay.
Hemimorphite is sold as 'Chinese larimar', and fake malachite is be produced from resin or plastic.
The seller of these colourful fluorite points describes them as "high-quality natural fluorite from Brazil." Fluorite with these colours only comes from China.
Fluorite is sometimes heated, which can reduce its natural colour and increase translucency. However, the distinctive red tones seen in material sold as Candy Fluorite or Watermelon Fluorite are not natural. The colour has been artificially produced or enhanced by some kind of treatment, although the exact method is not known.
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Many of the quartz crystals mass-produced in China, particularly crystal balls and carved pieces, exhibit exceptional iridescence. While the colours are genuine optical effects, they rarely appear in this way.
The impressive colour is caused by thin-film interference, where light reflects off extremely thin internal layers or fractures within the crystal. In natural quartz, this usually occurs in small, localised areas, appearing as brief flashes that change with the viewing angle. It’s extremely unusual for this effect to produce continuous bands of colour across a large surface.
The internal fractures or stress within the quartz that produce this colour are likely to have been created during manufacturing. The result is a dramatic display of moving colours, far more intense than anything found in untreated natural quartz.
In a conversation with this seller, I asked whether the optical effect was natural. They confirmed that it was and stated it was caused by the refraction of light. I said that I would like to buy one, but would have it tested to ensure the crystal ball had not been engineered or coated. They confirmed it could be returned if it was found not to be genuine. The following day, they contacted me to say it had sold and that they had no more available.
Unsurprisingly, their social media page is full of crystals and crystal balls with similar colour.
Another technique used to produce or enhance colour is vapour deposition. A fine layer of titanium or titanium oxide is applied to the surface of a crystal or mineral, creating an exaggerated iridescent effect. This process is used on material sold as aura quartz.
The other point to consider is that many crystal balls are glass or lead crystal. Lead crystal is not quartz; it's glass infused with lead.
I recently saw an impressive blue lace agate sphere on Instagram. This stone can only be found in Namibia, Zambia and Malawi.
The colour looked too good to be true. However, it could be genuine because a significant amount of high-grade material from Namibia is known to have been sold to China. However, the only way to know for certain would be to have it tested.
I contacted a seller to ask where the stone was from.
When I explained that blue lace agate isn't found in Brazil, my subsequent messages were ignored. Having contacted another business with an identical sphere, they initially told me it was from Brazil or Africa. When I said I wanted to know for certain, they said the stone was from Namibia, but the spheres were cut and polished in their factory in China.
The colour of this blue lace agate sphere is far bluer than a high-grade polished stone in my own collection. That may be down to lighting or the camera, but I have good experience buying polished rocks and minerals locally in China.
Here's another message that I sent after seeing a clip of several "celestite spheres." When cut and polished, celestite and blue calcite can look very similar. However, celestite is a different mineral, and it's also more expensive. 
Regarding these fluorite crystal towers, I asked if they had them in smoky quartz. They said they were out of stock. I'm fairly certain this is smoky quartz, and positive it's not fluorite.
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Minerals being labelled or described incorrectly is another growing problem. This listing features a sphere being sold by a seller based in the UK.
Made-up names are also common. Rainbow amethyst, titanium quartz, and aura quartz (both treated with a coating of titanium and other metal oxides), sugar chalcedony (probably because of the layer of minute crystals), lavender fluorite, and aqua rose are just a few examples.Cherry quartz is man-made. I believe it's produced from cinnabar and quartz. Cinnabar is an ore of mercury, so it's highly toxic. Most of the cherry quartz is coloured glass.
(*)When visiting a crystal website, I always look for a trading address. I initially look at the contact or returns page, and if it's not there, I look through their Terms and Conditions. Once you start looking, you'll be surprised by how few businesses share where they are. In many cases, you won't even find a telephone number.
Most UK-based businesses have a .co.uk domain, but some have .com or .org. Businesses in China and India that want you to believe they're in the UK or the USA don't always make this information easy to find.
Some businesses that trade in online marketplaces claim to be in the UK and may publish an address, but it's not where they are or where merchandise is dispatched from.
This business contacted me on Instagram. When I asked where they were, they said they were in Pakistan. After searching for them online, I found they had two shops on Etsy. Looking at their post-sale feedback, the main complaint was about how long it took for goods to arrive.
There was nothing on either account to indicate they were in Pakistan.
A business that I followed for a while on social media publishes interesting videos related to geology. Many of their followers are serious rock and mineral collectors. Nothing about their page indicates they mass-produce low-grade crystals in China. Their profile includes a link to their Etsy shop, which states they're in "England." However, it didn't take long to discover they're in China.
Their merchandise could not be any more different to what their social media posts. Although they have over a thousand positive reviews, it's clear that most of their customers struggle writing in English.
You may be surprised to learn that many online reviews are fake. Selling fake reviews, likes, and followers is big business.
Another company that claims to be in the UK are selling these love hearts. They're not citrine and are not even heated amethyst. I think they're glass.When shopping online for crystals, take time to research the stone you're interested in and try to learn a little about the business selling it. Checking customer reviews on Google or Trustpilot is a good idea, but don’t just read the positive ones.
A negative review is far more likely to be genuine and will tell you more about a business, its products, and how they respond to complaints. If a customer has taken the time to write a review, whether positive or negative, it should always be acknowledged.
Bear in mind that anyone, anywhere in the world, can sell through a website or online marketplace. If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
