Gems International Sells Fake Sapphires which it claims are authentic Georgetown Cayman Islands

     In March 2014, my family visited the Cayman Islands on vacation.  While sightseeing through Georgetown, we visited Gems International (both locations were on Church Street).  We were attended to by KailashSingh Rawal, who claimed to be one of the owners.

     Mr. Rawa showed us a beautiful bracelet full of multi-colored sapphires and placed in white gold.  We negotiated the price down to $2,000 for the bracelet and $500 for a matching pendant.  Mr. Rawal then prepared an appraisal form for my insurance company and listed the value of the bracelet as $3,620.00 and the pendant as $950.00.  He assured us that these were the finest quality sapphires.

     When we returned to the U.S., my wife and I decided to have a local gem expert appraise them for additional documentation before I submitted the documentation to my homeowner's insurance company.  The local gem expert said these sapphires were not authentic.  They were fake synthetics.  He valued both the bracelet and pendant as a combined $550.00.

     We immediately sent an email to Gems International advising them to contact us so we can return the jewelry for a refund.  They refused to respond.  Letters were mailed to them with no response.  I contacted my credit card company and filed a dispute.  Eventually, my credit card company issued me a full refund.

     I also called and emailed the Cayman Islands government.  A gentleman by the name of Ryan in the Tourism Department tried to help and advised he would forward the information to their police service.  I have never been contacted by the police in Cayman Islands.

     My recommendation for everyone is to never, ever purchase jewelry in the Cayman Islands.  They obviously are full of frauds, there is no way to confirm the authenticity of the jewelry, and the police department does not seem to follow through and put these frauds out of business.