How to buy natural gemstones in Siem Reap?

If you link this page, it may be too late.

Before buying gemstones or jewelry in Siem Reap, it is important to read the information below.

Siem Reap is one of the places in the world where there are the most gemstones scams.

Like any tourist places, almost everything is fake. There is a huge amount of money coming from tourists for fake products, knowing full well that tourists will never come back to complain, once they have returned to their country.

Gemstone scam is worth several tens of thousands of dollars a day in low tourist season, and several hundred thousand dollars a day during the high season, from November to March.
This is the best way to steal money from tourists, without violence and with a smile.
If you are lucky, people will not try to cheat you, but almost all of the people you ask for advice are part of this great mafia. So do not trust anyone: tour guide, hotel receptionist, bus driver, taxi driver…

Every day we see people coming to the gemological institute, who realize they have been ripped off. They come to test their gemstones in our laboratory after finding our address on Google, but it is already too late. From the moment the customer leaves the store, it’s over. There is no refund.
We can not count how many times we saw women crying when they realised that they had spent hundreds or thousands of dollars in fake gemstones and fake jewelry

Indeed, there are dozens of fake gemstones shops, which share the profits with all the middlemen, hotel receptionist, driver, guide, etc. these counterfeiters offer up to 50% of the sales price to their accomplices

It is very easy to tell tourists anything because they don’t understand the local language, and are charmed by the smile and kindness of their new friends.

If you ask an intermediary to contact us to book, here are some examples of what they will answer you: (these are testimonials from our customers)

– “I tried to call by phone, but this store is closed”
In reality, it’s wrong! We are open all year. 7 days a week, 9 am to 10 pm

– “This shop sells false gemstones, but I have a friend who has a shop, I’ve known him for 20 years, you can trust him. ”
In reality, it’s wrong! We only sell natural gemstones, and we are the only ones!

– “It’s too far from your hotel, there is better and less far away”
In reality, it’s wrong! We are located in downtown Siem Reap

– “This store no longer exists, they closed, but I know a good store, if you want, I’ll drive you there”
In reality, it’s wrong!

They can go very far in lying and manipulation. They can keep you waiting for days, until you crack and agree to go to another store at the last moment, just before you fly. There you go ! You finally got ripped off!

That’s why it’s important to book by yourself. Thus, you will be 100% secure. We offer free transportation from your hotel. (Round trip)

Do not hesitate to contact us. None can do it better than yourself. We speak english, french, khmer…
– Call office: +855 63 968 298
– Mobile phone / WhatsApp / Line / WeChat: +855 92 615 288
– Facebook Messenger: Gemological Institute of Cambodia
– Email: info@wordpress-713650-2366129.cloudwaysapps.com (we reply within a very short time)

Other scams:
If you still want to buy a gemstone from another store because you’re sure it’s a real gemstone, then ask for a certificate. To know that a real certificate must be made by a graduate gemologist, in a gemological laboratory. Any other certificate is a fake

If a store in Siem Reap tells you that we have a partnership together, it’s wrong. We have no partners. This is not because this store has one or two certificates issued by our laboratory that means that the thousands of other gemstones for sale in this store are real. It is precisely to legitimize the other gemstones that they show you our certificates. If the other gemstones were true, they would also have been certified one by one.

There is no listed gemstone shop on TripAdvisor in the “Shopping” category in Siem Reap except ours. Ask yourself the question: why? To find out the answer, all you have to do is understand that all the gemstone shops asked TripAdvisor to remove their page because they only received complaints about fraud.

Conclusion
Know that we are not trying to hurt the gemstones sellers. Not all of them are dishonest, some honestly think of selling real gemstones, without knowing that those gemstones are fakes or treated. But in the end, the result is the same for the customer