Kate Middleton Spurs Epidemic Of Counterfeit Goods

A Right Royal Rip Off

When on 02 April 2012, Madam Tussauds in Baker Street and New York unveiled the wax works of newest member of the Royal Family, The Duchess of Cambridge. Kate Middleton standing alongside her husband Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge in their Royal area. No one could have guessed it would begin the largest number of counterfeit items on online sites and see a wave of counterfeiters cashing in on the clothes and fragrances. Kate is known to 'shop her own' closet, to wear in public. The former accessories buyer shops British retailers along with luxury fashion designer, often combining the two in a single outfit.

The royal rip off has triggered an epidemic of mammoth proportions culminating masses of fake goods, arriving in mainly from Asia. The demand to supply an ever hungry public of consumers, willing to buy these goods in a desperate attempt to style themselves after the Duchess, is growing at a frenzied pace. Pundits believe that Kate is all set to become the saviour of British fashion. Certainly, her brand is already thought to be worth millions; one newspaper calculates that she will fuel a £2 billion bonanza for Britain’s economy: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Kate Middleton’s legacy is bigger than that of the Olympics, domestically and internationally,’ Dr Harold Goodwin, a professor of tourism at Leeds Metropolitan University, was quoted as saying. Unfortunately, all the major British retailers, whose clothes appear in Kate's public appearances, are victims of this online scam.

Amsterdam Madame Tussauds  get a very impressive recreation of her black lace Alice Temperley gown, worn to the War Horse film première in London this January

Catherine is dressed in an exact copy of the Alexander McQueen floor-sweeping gown from the BAFTA Brits to Watch Awards. Catherine’s figure also sports a painstakingly accurate recreation of the stunning sapphire and diamond engagement ring once worn by the late Diana.

Kate Madame Tussauds NYC recreation of the Alexander McQueen dress The Duchess wore to the BAFTA dinner in Los Angeles last summer sapphire and diamond engagement ring once worn by the late Diana

The Links of London topaz earrings worn by Kate Middleton during her engagement photo shoot at Buckingham Palace have been the party of a design rip off.  The £275 topaz 'Hope' earrings immortalised by the duchess, for Mario Testino's iconic engagement photos with Prince William, has been found on hundreds of websites selling counterfeit copies of the product. This has spurred an estimated £7 million pounds in lost sales for the luxury jewellery and accessories retailer. 

Links of London Hope Egg earrings white topaz, £275

The company stated that after Ms Middleton wore the earrings, they were inundated with orders. The supply soon ran out and restocking took months. In one New York Links of London store, a fight broke out over the last pair of Kate's white topaz 'Hope Egg' earrings.  In the interim the fakes appeared at a 20% discount, selling 1000s of units. This has also been rife with the clothing lines worn by the Duchess. Kate frequently patronises high street shops such as Whistles,Oasis, Reiss and L K Bennet. Once an outfit is photographed, at a public appearance, the images are flashed around the world and if they are still current stock, they sell out within minutes, in the retailers online shops. 

The Issa Sapphire dress, worn for Kate’s engagement, £385.

This has prompted a growing secondary market The famous blue Issa engagement dress is more impressive still. As you might expect, the real thing flew out of Harvey Nichols on the day Kate wore it; but then the knock-off at Tesco, retailing at £16, sold out within an hour of going online. There’s even a waiting list for her wedding fragrance, White Gardenia Petals by Illuminum. When the stock has sold out the fakes start to appear some with counterfeit labels and tags. 

FRAGRANCE, Illuminum White Gardenia Petals, £70

With there appearing to being no end in sight for the counterfeit market, it will be the British retailers and us the consumer that will end up paying the price.

pic credit Madame Tussauds and Links of London

For authentic luxury products & services; http://www.luxuryonlinestore.net

Couple charged with selling millions in fake Coach, Louis Vuitton purses

Undercover detectives surveilled Xiaolin Ma and Xiao Qu's flea market business for weeks before finding the trove of phoney merchandise.

Xiao Fang Qu, 44, and Xiaolin Ma, 47, are accused of running a mulit-million dollar counterfeit merchandise business out of a Pine Hills flea market, police said. (Orlando Police, Orlando Police /

By Arelis R. Hernández, Orlando Sentinel

3:27 p.m. EST, January 6, 2012

An Orlando couple is accused of running a multi-million dollar counterfeit merchandise business that sold thousands of phony brand-name purses, wallets and other items out of a Pine Hills flea market, police said.

Xiaolin Ma and Xiao Fang Qu, both of Windermere, were arrested Thursday at their store, the Lucky Gifts shop, located at the run-down Magic Mall outlet in the 5100 block of West Colonial Drive.

They were charged with selling $20,000 or more of counterfeit goods and selling 1,000 or more counterfeit items, according to an Orlando police charging affidavit.

Detectives first came across the fake products when they confronted two merchants that were selling the fake purses and handbags in a strip mall parking lot on South Kirkman Road in early December, the report said.

The salespeople told investigators they had been buying the purses at $15 each from a woman named "Lilly" for four years and resold them for $40 on the street to supplement their income.

The informants said Lilly — later identified as Qu — and her husband "Mike" — later identified as Ma — sold the trademarked purses from the back room of a flea market building to people with whom they had relationships.

Orlando police detectives surveilled the flea market, and came across a locked cage, stacked with Reebok shoe boxes that were likely counterfeit, the report said.

They also monitored the flea market parking area — where they saw more gray bags in the hands of customers.

Detectives collaborated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who were familiar with the name "Lilly" after they intercepted a tractor trailer carrying counterfeit products on Interstate 4 that were destined for "Lilly's store," in 2008. But ICE agents never identified or located the woman.

Police obtained a search warrant and raided the business Thursday, finding several thousand counterfeit Gucci, Chanel, Dooney and Bourke, Coach and other high-end purses.

Detectives estimated the retail worth counterfeit items as between $6 and $8 million dollars, the investigative report stated.

Both Ma and Qu bonded out of the Orange County jail. They could not be reached for comment.

arehernandez@tribune.com or 407-420-5471

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Counterfeit warning as Christmas nears

A counterfeit golf club bought on an overseas online store and reported to the Counterfeit Alert Network.

Dodgy online dealers are taking advantage of the Christmas silly season to dupe consumers into buying fake sporting

goods online.

The Australian Sporting Goods Association (ASGA) says that it has received increased reports of consumers being ripped off by dodgy online dealers selling counterfeit products.

The ASGA, which runs the Counterfeit Alert Network, an online watchdog for fake sporting product, says that the number of reports to the site have increased in the last month, coinciding with the Christmas countdown."Consumers should only buy products from reputable online sites or they risk being sold fakes and may have trouble getting their money back," said ASGA executive director Brad Ktischke.“In the last month reports to the Counterfeit Alert Network have increased 10-fold and most relate to purchases made online. We recognise that consumers are time poor and want to get the best bargain possible, but we encourage them to shop with reputable online stores and brands so they can be certain they are getting authentic product.“We don’t want someone’s Christmas to be ruined when their new golf club cracks half way through its first round of golf and they can’t get their money back from an overseas website.

”The ASGA is encouraging anyone who thinks they have been ripped off and sold fake products to report it online. The information is then passed onto the trademark owner. ASGA says that those who manufacture and sell fakes need to be aware that brand owners are taking this seriously and will pursue them through every legal means possible.The ASGA has been taking its fight against the importation and sale of counterfeit to the Commonwealth Government, seeking tougher laws and a change to enforcement procedures. It has written an issues paper and proposal for reform, downloadable here. 

via ASGA