African Agony

Africa has long been plagued by poverty, war, disease and famine. While perhaps not up to that high standard of pox, counterfeiting has also tormented the continent, causing economic loss and hardship for many. Counterfeiting persists even though the margins for counterfeit goods in Africa are quite a bit lower than in the West. This post by the blog Africans in China details counterfeiting problems endemic in Africa, including for such products as Kiwi Shoe Polish and Nice Tooth Brushes.

Fake Watches Are For Fake People

The title says it all, but the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie and the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry have started a new initiative to combat the scourge of fake watches.

Tips for Techies

From Channel Insider, five tips to avoid counterfeit IT goods. Essentially, the tips cultivate common sense. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. And given that counterfeit IT goods are more likely to malfunction without recourse to the manufacturer, the best bet is always buy real.

Food for Thought

Examples of counterfeit goods abound, as readers of this blog will note. Now, counterfeiters have set their sites on another target: food. As this article by Katye Martens in the USA Today demonstrates, it is often easy for a food supplier to dilute or lie about a food's content. Examples include using farm-raised salmon as a cheaper substitute for wild salmon, dilution of olive oil with soybean oil or other kinds of oil, and using cane sugar as a substitute for honey.

It's fraud, plain and simple. Fortunately, law enforcement resources are somewhat more abundant in this area, as laws against fake "adulterated" food are enforced by the stern folks at the Food and Drug Administration. Nevertheless, adulteration of food is a serious problem. Read the whole thing.


UPDATE: Environmental Blogger Verda Vido expands on the USA Today article here. She cites the U.S. Food and Drug Administration resources to help determine whether the fish you buy is fake, which can be found here and here. She also provides other helpful links to help determine the purity of honey (very useful) as well as certified suppliers for olive oil, maple syrup and honey. And last but not least, she links to an authentic homebrew recipie for the otherwise frequently faked vanilla extract. Good stuff. Check it out if you get the chance.

Truth in Numbers

Numbers are often a matter of interpretation. An increase in crime statistics, for example, might actually be good news if the statistics reflect increased enforcement and not increased criminal activity. Whether yesterday's released numbers on counterfeit seizures in the United States reflect better enforcement or a worsening counterfeit flood will require some digging, but the volume is staggering and a bit grim. According to the Associated Press, the United States Government seized over $270 million in counterfeit and pirated goods in 2008. These numbers represent a staggering 38% increase over 2007 numbers. Richard Rocha, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and apparently an optimist, credited improved law enforcement collaboration for the increase in counterfeit seizures.

New Jersey: Where the Rubber Did Not Meet the Road

And a fortunate thing, that. Via MyCentralJersey.com, news that police are seeking an Edison man caught with 600,000 fake condoms. While not identifying the brand of condom, a police spokesman confirmed that the condoms were "substandard."

Eternal Vigilance

Andrew Jackson, the American President whose long face adorns the twenty dollar bill, once remarked that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. In these hard times, CBS News reports that counterfeits are pervasive, hard to spot and dangerous. Consumers and businesses alike without much disposable cash can be tempted to look the other way for a good price on an item of questionable origin. Given the dangers of counterfeits cited by the article, eternal vigilance might also be the price of safety and peace of mind.

Stopping Traffic

It's the old story - attract the attention of a state trooper for a minor traffic infraction, only to be discovered couriering around over 600 counterfeit handbags worth over $100,000. Well, except for the handbags part, but still, contraband is contraband, and two Chinese nationals are in hot water over their indiscretion. Apparently, police dogs sniffed out the rogue bags. Who knew counterfeit handbags had their own smell? Or that police dogs were so smart?

Risking It All for Lust

Viagra has changed the lives of millions of men. What factors such as age, diet and stress have contributed to Erectile Dysfunction can be successfully combated with application of the little blue pill. But such advances in pharmacological technology are expensive, and those costs are passed down to the consumer in the form of high prices. So despite knowing little to nothing about many of the internet vendors dealing "discount" prescription drugs, many men have attempted to purchase Viagra online.

Now the BBC has published a piece illustrating the extreme danger these online hunters at the intersection of lustful and miserly face. And it's not just Viagra. Drugs for the treatment of conditions ranging from cancer to heart disease proliferate online, despite that 90% of all prescription drugs sold online are fake. These counterfeit medicines are often enough made up of materials such as "talcum powder, or even rat poison." The problem is worse in Third World countries, where counterfeits used to fight conditions such as malaria have killed scores of vulnerable people. But in the rich United Kingdom, many men have bypassed legitimate channels to purchase drugs. Aside from a 90% chance of having just thrown their money away, these men face a real risk to their health.

Ticket to Nowhere

My Authentics does not normally focus on counterfeit tickets, but ticket search engine Ninja Tickets has issued a press release guide to sleuthing out counterfeit tickets to sporting events. It contains some useful tips and is certainly somewhat related to our own topical sweet spot. So if you're in the market for some resold tickets, please read this guide before wasting your hard-earned money on fake tickets.

Presents Roasting on an Open Fire

Classic crooner Nat King Cole would not approve of this Christmas fire hazard: Counterfeit Christmas Lights Pose a Shocking Hazard. I can think of few things more detrimental to Christmas cheer than an electrical fire burning down the Christmas tree.

Up in Smoke

Counterfeit cigarettes seized in a raid in Felixstowe (UK). The cigarettes were hidden in a consignment of fireworks.

Paying the Piper

We recently commented on a Japanese poll showing a majority of Japanese citizens condoning the purchase of counterfeit goods. Anecdotally, we have further evidence of this worldwide trend in the American Presidential race.

The Authentics Foundation will studiously avoid the appearance of favoritism or partisanship during this American presidential election season. Counterfeiting is, after all, a problem that transcends party loyalties, and we are hopeful that both major tickets would use the levers of American Federal Government power to fight counterfeiting. But given that, we would be remiss if we did not comment on this recent photo of Sarah Palin's daughter Piper carrying a fake Louis Vuitton bag.

We do not know, of course, who purchased the bag or if the Palins were aware that Piper's handbag was counterfeit. And even so, a huge swath of Americans do not realize how profits from counterfeit goods can fund some truly undesirable activities such as child labor or criminal enterprises. The Palins also have a lot on their minds these days. Nevertheless, that the daughter of a Vice Presidential candidate can casually tote a fake handbag through a minefield of media and image handlers illustrates how deeply ingrained the consumption of counterfeit goods is, even in faraway Alaska. Highly discouraging stuff.

Fried Apples

I use a MacBook Pro to manage this blog, and it is possibly my most cherished possession. When I read stories like this showing fake power adapters that could possibly fry the motherboard of my baby, my blood runs cold. I suspect most other Mac owners would react similarly. Given the stakes, how anyone could take a chance on a "cheaper" adapter is mystifying.

Japanese Dissonance

Discouraging news from Japan, where a poll found that 52% of the people surveyed condoned the purchase of counterfeit goods. Even more discouraging is that the Japanese government has been attempting to raise the public's awareness concerning the dangers and drawbacks of counterfeit goods, and that the number of Japanese condoning counterfeiting has risen despite this campaign.

That these attitudes occur in Japan is even more disheartening. Japan is resource poor but highly educated and wealthy in large part from its innovations and intellectual property.

Smoking Dragon, Royal Charm, and the PRO-IP Act

What do you get when you combine four FBI Agents, 62 Chinese smugglers, and a billion counterfeit cigarettes? Besides the plot of a Hollywood potboiler, you get the tale of an intricate counterfeit cigarette bust that spanned several continents, a slew of agents, six years, 1,000 meetings, and enough fake smokes to supply every American man, woman and child with more than a few carcinogenic puffs.

Writing for the Center for Public Integrity, Te-Ping Chen brings her readers into the murky world of counterfeit cigarettes. Through bribery and sheer volume, Chinese cigarette counterfeiters overwhelm the inspection infrastructure in China and the United States. The numbers are startling. A shipping container of one million counterfeit cigarettes can cost about $120,000 to make, but can sell for as much as $2 million in the United States. A bribe of $20,000 can ensure safe passage out of China, and then it becomes a game of chance stacked in favor of the counterfeiter. Cargo containers are only inspected 22% of the time on average in the United States. While seizures are considered a cost of doing business for these smugglers, a run of bad luck seizures tempted the counterfeiters in the story to attempt to purchase protection from the Italian Mafia. Unfortunately for the villains, the Mafia fixers turned out to be FBI agents.

Te-Ping Chen does an excellent job of detailing the intricate nature of the smuggling world. Through the well-worn trade paths of cigarettes also comes counterfeit money, fake pharmaceuticals, and weapons. Notorious bad actors like the North Korean government profit greatly from the criminality. No doubt, a weapon of mass destruction could conceivably slip through safeguards using these same trade routes.

And what does this have to do with PRO-IP Act? Plenty, in fact. The PRO-IP Act goes to the root of the counterfeiting problem by increasing the price of doing business in counterfeits. Doubling the fines per counterfeit violation is a good start. Increasing diplomatic resources will also help, as it could enhance cooperation with law enforcement at the point of origin. And with counterfeit cigarettes often unhealthier than the real thing, criminal penalties for selling counterfeit items that do bodily harm could possibly ensure long jail sentences for the counterfeiters of cigarettes and other types of potentially harmful contraband.

This is an excellent article - entertaining, informative and even poignant in parts. Towards the end of the tale, two of the counterfeiters at the center of the investigation presented their undercover FBI Agent with two Rolexes as a wedding present for the mock gangster. "These aren't counterfeit, are they?" asked the agent. "No," replied the suspect, "these are the real deal."

You'll think Goodfellas, and you won't be far off - or disappointed. Read the whole thing.

Watch This!

From the Wall Street Journal, a watch that cannot be counterfeited. Or at least, not yet.

The watch is made by Vacheron Constantin, the venerable Swiss watch maker that first started making watches in 1755. This old school outfit employs cutting edge technology and clever technique to fight counterfeiting. Using "layers of invisible UV marking, laser perforations of some watch parts, special high-security inks, and other measures used to secure passports and currencies like the euro and Swiss franc," Vacheron Constantin has designed the "Quai de l'Ile" watch it claims is "impossible to counterfeit." If you hold the Quai de l'Ile under ultraviolet light, a tiny image of the sun appears between the 1 and 2 on the watchdial.

The article sounds a warning - counterfeiters have become increasingly capable themselves, so Vacheon Constantin's braggadocio may be misplaced. Nevertheless, anti-counterfeiting techniques like these can keep the brand owners one step ahead of the counterfeiters, and that, even if only temporary, is a good thing.

Read the whole thing.

Don't Brake for Fakes

From SkyNews, a spotlight on fake auto parts. Imagine trying to make a sudden emergency stop with fake brake pads made from compressed grass clippings and wood chips. Really, could there be anything more dangerous?

Fake Grass

If you click on the image to the right, you will read an excerpt of an interview with Phillip Jennings, founder of Phillip Jennings Turf Farm. Mr. Jennings has successfully developed golf turf for areas normally considered too dry or inhospitable for normal grass. When asked what his biggest competition is, he says, "Piracy."

Milking Profits from Fakes

Tainted milk from China has sickened more than 53,000 children while killing 12. While a food safety issue for sure, the recent tainted milk scare is likewise a counterfeit issue. These evil counterfeiters dilute the milk and add industrial chemical melamine to cover their tracks. Milk tainted with melamine masks dilution by tricking protein detectors into detecting the right amount of protein in the milk. Unfortunately, ingestion of melamine causes kidney failure in babies. Parents think they are buying "real milk" for their children, but are instead buying counterfeit milk.

As with many other industries, milk is a good where counterfeiters flourish due to the large payoff and small risks of detection and punishment. Bee Wilson explains in this New York Times Op-Ed piece that the milk tampering problem today in China is in some ways an echo of 19th century New York City. Lack of refrigeration and high demand in densely urban New York gave rise to temptations to dilute milk and cover up the tampering with flour - or worse. The deaths from bad milk sparked a movement that ultimately led to government reform and the establishment of oversight agencies. The American food supply chain, while not perfect, is a heck of a lot better today because of the reforms.

Many of the same conditions occur in China today. Chinese regulatory agencies are still nascent, and are often easily bought off. Children are dying. Popular rage is simmering. But perhaps like 19th century New York, the recent scandals could spark reforms necessary to safeguard the food supply chain from counterfeiters.

Excellent and fascinating piece. Read the whole thing.