Thread: Fake hones, how common are they?

When I hear "fake hone" my mind usually immediately goes to the same place as when I hear "fake razor", which is... wouldn't it be more trouble than it's worth? And until now i've been pretty safe with that logic buying and trading online.

Story time: I bought a "The Genuine Water Hone" complete with escher chalice on the label from someone online. The box looked correct and the stone within it looked to be the right color in the picture so I pulled the trigger. When I received it I was a little concerned because the hone was much thinner than this type of hone that i had seen in the past, probably half the height of a "NOS" one. but that's not the end of the world, perhaps it was just heavily used. And then I lapped it and saw that this stone is not similar to an escher. In fact it reflected light like a CF or something of the like.
Put a razor to it, and it was absolute rubbish. I could get better results off a piece of limestone in my back yard.
Safe to say, I got duped and feel pretty silly by not asking for better pictures, etc...

So now for the question. How common is this to happen? To me, cutting a stone and finding an escher box is way more effort than the $100-$150 payout that these stones are currently going for on the bay. But i've proven myself wrong here.
I'd like to acquire more stones in the future. Especially Eschers. But if getting a fake every now and again is commonplace, then I might just stick with what I have already. Sure is a good way to cure the HAD i guess...
I've seen several clearly fake full sized eschers on the bay and they're pretty easy to spot, but these smaller ones are more difficult. Especially when paired with an appropriate box and label.

Any input from more experienced members would be great!