Facebook:Advertisements for counterfeit goods are showing up on users Facebook pages

Police with seized counterfeit goods

The seizure of dozens of websites selling fake goods announced by federal authorities Thursday is the latest proof that online counterfeiters are employing ever more sophisticated tactics to lead consumers astray.

After a four-month probe called Project Copy Cat, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators shut down 70 sites designed to be mirror-images of real ones.

The fake sites purported to sell items such as official San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders jerseys, Louis Vuitton bags and upscale Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. They used Web addresses like "tiffanyandcojewelrysale.net" that could appear similar to the URLs of the true sites.

The sites even used images of Secure Sockets Layer certificates - often seen as a padlock logo - to trick customers into thinking they were financially secure and verified.

Businesses that trade in ersatz merchandise, from sports apparel to jewelry to DVDs, have long used the Internet to sell their wares. Stopping them has been like playing a game of whack-a-mole, said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy.

But now counterfeiters are using technology with an increasing level of sophistication, which poses new problems for companies trying to protect their brands and shoppers trying to protect their wallets.

Facebook ads

A social-media marketer who is waging his own campaign to get Facebook to crack down harder on counterfeiters said he's catalogued 7,000 examples of ads for fake products on the social network. One he cited used images of 49ers legends Joe Montana and Jerry Rice to tout a "Cheap jersey, only $18."

"Why am I catching this and they're not?" said Eric Feinberg, creator of the ad hoc Fans AgainstKounterfeit Enterprise, or FAKE. "We're talking about two of the most iconic 49ers of all time getting used. If you want to be a publicly traded company, you have to have oversight, and there's no oversight here."

Feinberg said he did work for sports-related clients who used social media to get people talking about their products. But his work was stymied by Facebook ads that led to counterfeit sites based in China.

Facebook's ads use members' favorite topics, interests and "likes" to push more relevant ads to them. Feinberg said instead of finding a fake site by searching through Google, "This is searching me."

Masquerading as 'real deal'

The copycat trend is "alarming," said John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an investigative unit of the Department of Homeland Security.

"The fake sites and the real sites are almost indistinguishable," he said. "And the fake sites aren't offering obvious knockoffs. They are trying to masquerade as the real deal."

Sites that offered fake Major League Baseball merchandise were so realistic that a buyer would have to be familiar with a team's current roster of players to know they weren't real, he said.

The copycat sites didn't have abnormally low prices, one of the usual tell-tale signs. Instead, they offered goods or services that were "close to or near the legitimate prices," which would also give counterfeiters a higher profit margin, Morton said.

The goods ordered by undercover officers were shipped to the United States from other countries, and Morton said most of the fake sites were linked to China. No arrests have been made, although the investigation is continuing.

One step ahead?

Morton said the investigation did not focus on Facebook ads, but that's an area where New York social-media marketer Feinberg believes counterfeiters are already one step ahead of the law.

In January, he set up fake Facebook accounts to bait the counterfeiters and began seeing more ads. Some were comically obvious, like one for a pair of "Oakley 29 $" sunglasses.

And this week, his personal Facebook account received a "friend request" from a member named "Nflcn JerseysShop," which then posted links on his wall to a site in China that offered a variety of sports apparel.

Feinberg contacted Facebook last month to call attention to the sites, but received a letter that said the Menlo Park company could only act if it received a report from the authorized copyright or trademark owner.

"I want to know if Facebook is making revenue off this," Feinberg said.

Ad guidelines

A Facebook spokeswoman said the company acts immediately when notified of a problem ad.

In a statement, the company said it does "strive to create a trusted environment for our users and advertisers. We offer the ability for users to provide immediate feedback on our ads and encourage them to report anything they find offensive or misleading. We have a team dedicated to investigating ads and user complaints, and we will remove ads that users bring to our attention if they violate our ad guidelines."

Facebook is also a founding member - along with Google, Twitter, AOL and the Interactive Advertising Bureau - of the Ads Integrity Alliance, a group started last month to share information and develop policies to protect consumers from the kind of "malvertising" that FAKE complains about.

"It's enough of a problem that some of the biggest players in online advertising decided to get together," said Maxim Weinstein, the alliance's leader and president of the nonprofit group StopBadware.

"This would be bad for consumers and the industry if we got to the point where people say I don't trust online ads and I'm not going to click on them anymore," he said.

Content thank you: Benny Evangelista is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: bevangelista@sfchronicle.com

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

HERMÈS dismantle international crime ring producing counterfeits of its bags

Luxury giants HERMÈS has announced an international crime ring producing counterfeit versions of its bags has been dismantled by French police. The brand house said that several members of Hermès staff had been dismissed following the investigation, but has not confirmed whether they were among the 12 people arrested in connection with the fraud last week.

"This operation concludes a one-year investigation following an Hermès complaint based on clues and abnormal behaviour identified through the house's internal monitoring systems," the company told WWD. "Hermès is very satisfied with the efficient and diligent collaboration established with the national gendarmerie in this case and reiterates its relentless commitment to fighting counterfeiting. This action puts an end to the fraudulent project in progress."

It is thought that the bags were sold through a parallel distribution network in Europe, the US and Asia, but made in France - after police discovered a series of workshops filled with precious leather skins in Paris last week. The Paris public prosecutor estimated the value of sales by one branch of the ring at €18 million.

"Eighty per cent of objects sold on the internet under the Hermès name are fakes," Hermès chief executive officer Patrick Thomas told WWD  in a recent interview. "It's an absolute disgrace."

Both Hermès and British label Burberry were recently awarded £63 million ($100 million) each by a Manhattan court as compensation from Chinese counterfeiters who had profited from reproducing their trademarks illegally.


The luxury brand have recently come under fire (forgive the pun) for allegedly burning their iconic un wanted bags.


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BURBERRY awarded £63 million against internet counterfeiters

Burberry with Kate Moss

Ionic british luxury brand, established 1856 BURBERRY, was awarded £63 million ($100 million) by a Manhattan Federal court, which ruled that a network of Chinese internet counterfeiters had infringed upon the brand's trademark. The group was found to have sold items bearing counterfeited Burberry trademarks, WWD reports, including imitations of the brand's check and its equestrian knight design.

The defendants - who ran websites including YESBURBERRYVISION.COM and BUYBURBERRY.COM - failed to answer the complaint or appear in court when summoned, resulting in the substantial damages in the complainant's favour. In addition to the financial award, the judge granted a permanent injunction against the sites, and transferred control of the offending domain names to Burberry.


Coming hot on the heels of last month, when luxury brand Hermès International was awarded an identical payout of $100 million (£63 million) against 34 counterfeit websites selling imitations of its products.

This has proved an unusual ruling (made 17 May 2012) allowing the luxury brand to take control of the domain names but we believe it will be the first of many as the luxury brands firmly establish that enough is definitely enough. 

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The Comité Colbert launches new anti-counterfeiting campaign

New campaign slogan

Yes, you read correctly. According the recently released Press Notice from COMITÉ COLBERÍÈQQ    Press release May 30, 2012.


Following on from Delortae Agency earlier blog post French Luxury Brands Fighting back against Counterfeits The Comité Colbert launches new anti-counterfeiting campaign to add a little more luxury muscle to the campaign to support luxury counterfeiting. Do we love it? Yes we do.


Buy a fake Cartier, get a genuine criminal record” “With this phone, you better be ready to call your lawyer! “Real ladies don ’t like fake” “Are you ready to unravel this one? “A bet on the wrong horse can be very expensive” “Counteifeits are no bed of roses” “Lucky charm? Unlucky at customs”.


Seven new tag lines were launched by the chairmen of companies belonging to the Comité Colbert, known to use humour as a way to get travellers’ attention. Ten thousand posters will be displayed in French airports, courtesy of French Customs as well as to partnerships developed by the Comité Colbert with the French airport authority, Air France and the urban furniture specialist J.C. Decaux.


Longchamp and Van Cleef & Arpels have joined ranks with Cartier, Chanel, Christian Dior, Lacoste and Louis Vuitton, involved for years in this initiative conducted under the auspices of the French national anti­counterfeiting committee (CNAC). And the initiative has proven effective: Consumers in France are more aware than those in
other EU countries that common European laws exist to protect intellectual property rights (84% of respondents in France, which ranked first among EU countries, according to a Eurobarometer survey in 2009).

Given the magnitude of trafficking, the Comité Colbert continues to give top priority to the
fight against counterfeiting. In France, the number of knock­offs seized by Customs went from 200,000 in 1994 to 8.9 million in 201 l. It is estimated that counterfeiting costs the French economy between 30,000 and 40,000 jobs a year and 6 billion euros in losses. The number of counterfeit products sold online and seized by Customs has grown exponentially, increasing by a factor of nearly 20 in five years.

“The protection of intellectual properly rights makes it possible to grow competitive French businesses and safeguard French jobs. The combat of the Comite’ Colbert, which is of long date, illustrates the luxury sector’s commitment to the fight against counterfeiting to protect our know-how ana’ creation,” declares Elisabeth Ponsolle des Portes, President and CEO of the Comité Colbert.

The campaign has been taken up elsewhere in Europe: the Customs administrations in six other EU countries have adopted it to raise awareness among their citizens. There are now local language versions in Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

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

FBI takes down major counterfeit operation based out of China

The spread of counterfeit goods has become global in recent years, with the Internet being seen as a lucrative source to sell imitation products.

As part of an attempt to combat the selling and distribution of fake goods, the U.S. Department of Justice has seized more than $1.5 million in profits from the sales of fake sportswear manufactured in China.

The seizure of the money came as the result of an investigation into the sale of counterfeit items on commercial websites, which, according to a press release from the Department of Justice, also resulted in the seizure of three domain names used in the sale of the counterfeit sports goods.

The funds were detained from interbank accounts and six money service business accounts.

A Chinese Operation Dismantled

As court documents state, the individuals involved in the distribution of the fake goods conducted sales and processed payments using money service business accounts and then wired proceeds to bank accounts held at a Chinese bank.

According to the DoP press release, the developments into combating online counterfeit crime follow quickly on the heels of another FBI success last month, when the FBI seized more than $890,000 in fake sports apparel being sold on commercial websites.

These latest developments in fighting Internet counterfeit crime are part of a new law enforcement initiative by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), known as Operation In Our Sites.

Operation In Our Sites was launched in June 2010 that aims to “target the sale of counterfeit goods and intellectual property piracy on the Internet.” (

Four months following its launch, the federal law enforcement initiative rolled out on Cyber Monday – a term created by companies to persuade people to shop online – when, according to a Forbes report, 82 websites were seized during the Cyber Monday-related operation.

Taking Out Counterfeit Operations

The Staggering Costs of Chinese Counterfeiting

According to ABC News, Chinese counterfeiting costs foreign companies an estimated $20 billion a year in lost profits.

ABC News went undercover to reveal China’s huge counterfeit industry, and found that there is an amazing variety in counterfeit goods, ranging from the latest DVDs to the latest versions of software.

Following an inspection of a pair of ski gloves, emblazoned with a prominent North Face label, Charles Scholz, a genuine “fake buster” and the Asia director for the security consulting company, Kroll Associates, who is regularly hired by international corporations to ‘root out’ counterfeiters, told ABC News:

“The tag is real, the product is not.”

He told ABC News that not only would the gloves not keep you dry, but “…if you buy this, you get soaked.”

While U.S. officials are conducting large operations to combat online counterfeit crime, which is costing foreign companies an estimated $20 billion a year in lost profits, officials are still reluctant to attempt to shut it down completely, as the counterfeit business itself creates millions of jobs during a time when jobs are badly needed.

As Charles Scholz told ABC News:

“Actually, trying to put a stop to it [Chinese counterfeiting] is going to take some fundamental changes in the society and economy here.” 

During the Cyber Monday operation, federal agents made undercover online purchases of designer and sports items such as golf equipment, handbags, sunglasses, footwear and sports jerseys, all of which were purchased from online retailers that were suspected of selling counterfeit items.

As suspected, all of the items featured fake labels and trademarks.

In February this year, in the biggest seizure to date under Operations In Our Site, federal authorities announced they had seized and shut down 307 domains, 16 of which were allegedly involved in selling unauthorised and fake sports goods, including National Football League paraphernalia.

To date, a total of 761 domain names have been seized from websites used in the sale and distribution of either counterfeit goods or illegally copied works as a result of Operation In Our Sites.

In conversations about counterfeit items being sold, the issue of China crops up regularly. The general belief is that China seems to be the biggest culprit when it comes to producing and selling fake goods.

That belief is somewhat justified by the relentless flow of reports emerging involving Chinese counterfeit items, such as the recent announcement by the Department of Justice about the detainment of proceeds from the sale of counterfeit sports apparel that had been manufactured in China.

Content thanks to Top Secret Writers

References & Image Credits:
Justice.gov
Forbes
Wired
ABC News
ABC News Radio
LA Times

French luxury brands fighting back against counterfeits

FRENCH luxury brand from Chanel to Louis Vuitton have recently launched a campaign with several European countries, to fight back against the increasingly high number of counterfeits that are killing our industry.

It is now secret that Delortae Agency is committed to brand protection and we can confirm first hand that the global market on counterfeits. Largely due to Asia where 85 percent of articles seized in Europe are produced and the increasing popularity of on-line shops that give the buyer a sense of anonymity and impunity.

To fight the scourge, the Comite Colbert grouping 75 French luxury goods makers including Dior, Cartier and Remy Martin, is launching a poster campaign in French airports ahead of the summer to dissuade travellers from buying fakes.

"You can call your lawyer with this telephone,'' reads one of the posters, above a picture of a counterfeit Chanel mobile.

France has the toughest anti-counterfeit legislation in the world, explains Comite Colbert boss Elisabeth Ponsolle des Portes, with simply possessing a counterfeit good here considered a crime since 1994.
"In France you can be fined up to 300,000 euros and jailed for three years'' if you own counterfeit goods, the posters say.

The Comite Colbert has staged campaigns every two years since 1995, but this time Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Croatia are getting involved, with their customs officers able to use the posters for free.

Ponsolle des Portes hopes that more countries will get on board. "This is important for Europe, in terms of jobs,'' she said.

Counterfeit seizures doubled in Europe between 2009 and 2010, reaching 103 million items worth 1.1 billion euros ($1.37 billion), with customs officers themselves often unable to tell the fake from the real.
And according to 2009 Eurobarometer statistics, 22 percent of EU citizens have unknowingly bought counterfeit goods.

As home to many of the world's best known luxury brands, France is particularly exposed. Fake goods cost the economy 30,000 jobs and six billion euros in lost revenues every year, according to the Comite Colbert.
Clothes, sunglasses, perfume, cosmetics, leather goods, half the 8.9 million counterfeit articles seized in France in 2011 were luxury goods, with Louis Vuitton products the most copied.

Globally the underground fake goods economy is booming thanks to Internet shopping, as testified to by the increasing number of items seized in postal sorting offices.

Which is why the Comite Colbert now wants to get the cooperation of banking groups and payment handlers, such as Mastercard, Visa, American Express and PayPal, to track the illegal trade online.

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additional content thanks to Herald Sun

Hermes Wins $100 Million Lawsuit Against Counterfeits

Hermes Head Office

A New York has awarded French luxury goods company Hermes International $100 million in damages from retailers of 34 websites who sold counterfeit versions of Hermes handbags and other products, Wednesday.

Interestingly, the websites did not defend themselves, were found to have infringed upon nine trademarks. In addition to selling the much sought after Birkin bags they also sold counterfeit wallets, jewellery, belts and watches. Steps were also taken to ensure these sites were not going to be reopened.

We strongly believe the size of the judgement, is in large, due partly to the defendants' failure to adhere to earlier court orders demanding that they cease, temporarily, selling the goods.

In it's ruling the court ordered the PayPal accounts of the defendants' be liquidated, in order to meet the judgement, as well as further ordering Facebook and Twitter to remove links to the infringing sites.

It will be interesting to see if the search engines and social media sites comply, as the court have no authority of these areas, so how fully the order will be enforced has yet to be seen.

We for one, certainly welcome the action. We have seen the sophistication of these counterfeits improve over the years, as Hermes waiting list increase, so does the quality of the counterfeits and the price fake Birkins cost.

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defendant's PayPal accounts.