It’s come to our attention that a couple of bad apples have decided to commit forgery by providing suppliers and clients with altered Certificates of Analysis from us. Forgery is a crime that carries a year in county jail, and we will prosecute all forgeries to the full extent of the law. In addition, if our attorney advises us to do so, we will keep a public record here of the criminals who have chosen to forge our documents.
VERIFY ANY CERTIFICATE WE ISSUE
JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE PRESENTED WITH A CERTIFICATE OF ANALYSIS, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY OF THAT CERTIFICATE WITH US. WE CAN BE REACHED 24 HOURS VIA EMAIL, OR VIA PHONE DURING NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS. WE WILL TELL YOU WHETHER OR NOT THE CERTIFICATE YOU HAVE IS A FORGERY, OR WHETHER OR NOT THAT CERTIFICATE EXISTS AT ALL.
EMAIL: info@wonderland-labs.com
PHONE: (800) 647-3154
All hard copies of our certificates are difficult to scan, come with 2 authentic signatures, and are embossed with a corporate seal to ensure that the document is unaltered. Unfortunately, with digital technology, and most of our testing results being handled by a Client Dashboard and PDF files, there are going to be a few who make the choice to commit a crime.
Also, recently, one or two clients have accused us of providing “fake” results.
This seems to only occur when the results don’t come out as clients had hoped.
We made the decision to add additional testing to our menu because of my passion with the alternative botanical community. I began one of the first online stores for exotic botanicals, and we were one of the first companies to bring several unique botanicals to the United States. I have been on the ground fighting for the entheogen community, have served on the board of the Botanical Legal Defense, where we had many victories in defending plant’s rights in numerous states, where we each had to put up a large amount of our own money to do so. I even helped write the law in Illinois that prevented Kratom from becoming a Schedule I drug – just ask, that’s easily verified.
My deep passion for this community has evolved from retail sales, into building a beyond-compliant GMP manufacturing facility and our testing lab; Wonderland-Labs. It’s been a nearly 20-year progression for me, and it’s been an amazing and natural evolution.
We work hard to bring you all the products and services we do. As a fully licensed and FDA-registered corporation, anyone can look us up. We also have a large customer base we are happy to refer anyone to. Or, even better; just give me a call and check us out; I’m actually a real person offering a real service that I’m deeply passionate about.
You can read more details about all of this on the “Why We Bother With Kratom Testing” post, that’s a partial response to some haters who are determined to take business from me and all my treasured employees in both Illinois and California. No idea why a few bad apples have tagged me as the enemy; it’s difficult to not bring up all the time, energy and money I’ve spent fighting FOR the botanical community over most of my life.
ANATOMY OF A FORGERY
We have been given permission by our attorney to post the known forgeries without including any names. This page, under construction, will show actual images of the forgeries we’ve been informed of, as well as AUTHENTIC versions, and will teach you how to spot a forged Certificate of Analysis.
01. DUPLICATED CERTIFICATE: One of the forgeries we’ve been made aware of consists of a single test that has been modified to make it look like we ran multiple tests for the client. Every individual material has its own unique fingerprint, and generates a unique picture in the form of a chromatogram when it is passed through our testing equipment. As an example, different varieties of the same botanical will have similar earmarks that identify it, but there will be individual markers that make that profile unique from other varieties. It becomes more difficult to tell samples of the same strain apart, but different strains have distinctly different fingerprints.
Therefore, every chromatogram will have a different image. If you see several Certificates of Analysis that all have the same chromatogram, it is a FORGERY.
KEY POINTS: THE TWO ABOVE IMAGES ARE AUTHENTIC CHROMATOGRAMS. To a trained lab technician, these 2 images are VERY different. First, notice how the times are different in each image. This is because every material is unique, like a snowflake, and will release from the column at different times. Notice how the first peak that appears is only about 200 mAU high in the top image, but in the lower image, it’s nearly 400 mAU. Both samples have similar alkaloid content, but the picture they generate are unique to that sample. Look closely at any certificates being presented, and make sure the images are not simply duplicated images.
02. DUPLICATED DATA: We’ve seen a couple of forgeries that didn’t even try to change the underlying data for the Certificate of Analysis. If you look more closely at a Certificate of Analysis, you will notice several key items in the data table. Even though a sample of the same strain will elute within a similar time frame as other similar samples, each material will have a unique “Retention Time”. And, we track that Retention Time to the thousandth of a second.
That means every sample will have a unique Retention Time. If you see several Certificates of Analysis that have the same Retention Time, they are FORGERIES.
LOOK AT THE ABOVE EXAMPLE FOR AUTHENTIC RETENTION TIMES.
KEY POINTS: See the images above. Every peak has an associated number, but we only include 1 number as a reference. It is EXTREMELY RARE to any test to show the same number there. This is because each sample is unique from the next, even if it was taken from the same package. And, since we track time to the thousandths of a second, our numbers for each peak are very different from another. See how the first number is 4.413, and the second is 4.394. If you are present with a certificate that shows the same number in both chromatograms, it’s a forgery.
03. INCORRECT MATH: All of our results rely on a constant that was painstakingly developed over the course of numerous tests, using a reference standard purchased from a laboratory supply house. We use reference standards for everything we test. This teaches our machines to recognize what each verified authentic botanical looks like when it passes through our machines, also giving us a reference point for what 100% of an alkaloid or lactone looks like when running samples.
Once we have those numbers and light frequencies, we come up with a mathematical constant that we multiply results by. Without that constant, the results won’t make sense. In several years, we’ve seen a reliable average for alkaloid or lactone content of all the materials we’ve tested. Every once in a while, there’s an exception, but 99% of the time, most fall within a known range.
If you’re presented with a Certificate of Analysis that has an unusually large percentage of the desired alkaloid, chances are it’s been altered and is a forgery.
[IMAGES FORTHCOMING]04. SLIGHT ALTERATIONS: We will post a high enough resolution image of our exact Certificates of Analysis here. Since our files come as non-editable PDF files, anyone who chooses to make a forgery needs to duplicate the fonts as best they can. Look at the attached images; notice how there are slight, but noticeable differences between our authentic Certificate of Analysis, and the fake. If you didn’t have a reference, it would be difficult to tell. We are also working on an exclusive font that we will use with all of our documents, making it even more difficult for any criminal to forge the Certificates.
[IMAGES FORTHCOMING]BOTTOM LINE
We do not take criminal acts against us lightly. We are proud of all we’ve accomplished, and are currently working with our attorney to explore all legal avenues to remedy this current unfortunate situation. Not only is the criminal act of forgery involved, spreading incorrect data about us online that harms our reputation and business is also an act that we can seek prosecution and damages for. It’s always amazing to me when we try to do something good for the community, and a few bad apples turn against us because they got results they were unhappy with, or feel it’s appropriate to get us in the middle of a drama that has absolutely nothing to do with us.
IN ALL CANDIDNESS: If you take a step back for just a minute and think: Our business and license is on the line every single time we run a test and issue a result to our clients. If/when the FDA comes knocking at your door, one of the first things they’re going to ask for is your Certificates of Analysis for any products you handle. What do they do with that Certificate of Analysis? – They go straight to the issuing lab, and verify its authenticity. Over the past years, we’ve been inspected by the FDA every few years, have passed all of our inspections, and have had inquiries on 2 sets of Certificates of Analysis.
Lastly, some have said that by teaching you how to spot a forgery, that we’re also empowering forgers to make better forgeries. Sometimes it’s not always obvious what the right thing to do is, but we have faith that people will not make snap judgements and come to us directly with any questions or concerns. We can verify the authenticity of ANY Certificate with our name on it.
IF YOU HAVE A CERTIFICATE THAT YOU THINK MAY BE FORGED, CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY. WE WILL EITHER PROVIDE YOU WITH THE GENUINE CERTIFICATE, WE WILL PROVIDE THE ACTUAL DATA FROM THE CERTIFICATE, OR WE WILL INFORM YOU IF THAT CERTIFICATE ACTUALLY EXISTS AT ALL.
EMAIL: info@wonderland-labs.com
PHONE: (800) 647-3154
WHY CERTIFICATES OF ANALYSIS?
