For many people, buying a counterfeit item can seem like a good way to purchase a designer item at a knockdown price.
However, consumers often do not realise that part of the reason these goods are cheaper than the real thing is because they are badly made, and sometimes even dangerous. In the past, Warwickshire Trading Standards in raids on traders in counterfeit goods have found fake Russian Vodka which was actually meths!
Buying counterfeit goods can also have much greater consequences than people realise, and you could end up unwittingly giving money to organised crime. Counterfeiters also have a huge impact on legitimate businesses, which causes them to lose millions of pounds of revenue a year. You are obviously far less at risk of buying counterfeit goods if you shop at well established retailers than from someone selling out of a suitcase in the high street.
Popular amongst counterfeited items are sportswear, designer label clothing, perfume, cigarrettes and alcohol, CD's, video tapes, computer software and DVD's.
One of these bottles of whisky is genuine, the other fake, but which is which?
Find Out
Examine any items you are thinking of buying carefully. Poor quality labels and packaging on perfumes and cosmetics can often indicate that the items inside are not genuine. If you are buying CDs, DVDs and pre recorded audio cassette tapes be wary of any with poor quality inlay cards, no artist name on the cassette label or disc face and no outer cellophane wrapping. CDs that are not silver will be copies. Also look out for CDs, DVDs, and video cassettes without security holograms and photocopied labels.
Car parts are also frequently counterfeited, illegal and fake car parts circulating in the UK have been assessed as accounting for some 10% of the market.
By far the best way to avoid a potentially dangerous counterfeit car part is to make sure you buy from either a franchised dealer or a garage that is a member of a recognised body, such as the Retail Motor Industry Federation or the British Independent Motor Trade Association.
Although good bargains can always be found it pays to be aware that if something seems too good to be true it probably is.
Warwickshire Trading Standards seize thousands of counterfeit goods each year, mostly from market stalls, but increasingly from the homes of manufacturers who use new technology to counterfeit computer software CD's and DVD's and sell them on the internet. |