In the markets in Morocco, North and East Africa, as well as in the Middle East and India, amber colored plastic necklaces are very common. They are often sold as antique trade beads. Sometimes they are old, very beautiful, large egg-yolk colored strands, but they are still plastic, and tend to be heavier than amber. The original, real trade beads, which were distributed from northern Europe around 300 years ago, are very rare to find in the market. It is difficult to see the difference, but if a heated needle is put into the hole of a bead, the smell of burned plastic immediately appears.
Baltic amber smells like pine resin.
Even without heating the needle, you can tell the difference. Plastic is elastic, and the needle gets stuck in the material, but true amber is brittle and small pieces will chip off by the pressure. A scientist from British Museum of Natural History, found a falsification in their collection. A very well preserved fly was described as a palaeontological rarity from the beginning of the 19th century. Sometimes even mammalian hair and feathers are skillfully baked in.