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EU's Law Enforcement Agency Closes 4,500 Websites Peddling Fake Brands (phys.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: In a massive crackdown, police and law enforcement agencies across Europe have seized more than 4,500 website domains trading in counterfeit goods, often via social networks, officials said on Monday. The operation came as Europol, Europe's police agency, unveiled its newest campaign dubbed "Don't F***(AKE) Up" to stop scam websites selling fake brand names online. In the crackdown, agencies from 27 countries mostly in Europe but including from the U.S. and Canada, joined forces to shut down over 4,500 websites. They were selling everything from "luxury goods, sportswear, spare parts, electronics, pharmaceuticals, toiletries and other fake products," Europol said in a statement, without saying how long the crackdown took. An annual operation run in collaboration with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security, there was "a significant increase in the number of seized domain names compared to last year," said Europol director Rob Wainwright. As part of the crackdown, Dutch anti-fraud police arrested 12 people across The Netherlands over the past two weeks as they searched homes and warehouses. Most of the raids were prompted by online sales of counterfeit goods on social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram. More than 3,500 items of clothing and fake luxury goods were seized in Holland, including shoes, bags and perfumes purporting to be such brands as Nike, Adidas, and Kenzo, with a market value of tens of thousands euros. Publishing a guide on how to spot fake websites and social media scams, Europol warned consumers had to be on their guard.
"Europol warned consumers had to be on their guard"
I don't think that anyone buying cheap "brand name" items from a web site is deluded enough to think they are getting the real thing. They realize that brands charge a premium for the social cachet and not necessarily quality. People are just purchasing the cachet at a discount.
This is much more about protecting the profits of the brands than protecting the consumer.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
That's not always how it works, though.
If I order a $10 Chinese watch which just happens to have a fake Rolex logo I don't care about, it will be destroyed if caught in customs, yet if I then decide to not rip off the hard work of others and go into an official Rolex store and order $10 Chinese watch, I will be chased out of the store.
In the end, nobody loses anything by me buying the $10 Chinese watch. I get what I want (a $10 Chinese watch), and Rolex don't want my $10 anyway. UNLESS it's caught in customs, then I will be out of money, because Rolex will insist that it's cutting into their sales of $10 Chinese watches.