Bogus sports retailing is a criminal market that nets billions a year globally. This year, there will be even more, with the world's focus on the London Olympics. British authorities have already made countless busts for trying to move bogus mementos. And they are warning tourists coming to see the games to be careful about what they purchase.
Counterfeiting is stealing
Much like bootlegging movies and music, the sale of counterfeit merchandise is stealing. It takes advantage of the goodwill built by others, and takes sales based on that goodwill away from them.
There was an enormous Major League Baseball merchandise ring in Kansas City that Gilbert Trill and his team stopped. Trill is an assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in the area. He explained:
"Selling counterfeit goods is stealing. Counterfeit goods steal U.S. jobs, create inferior and sometimes dangerous products, and support criminal organizations."
Opportunity for stealing at Olympics
There are a lot of scams around with the Olympics too. On Jun 8, specialists seized 500 cigarette lighters, 400 vests and 7,000 fake Olympic tote bags at the Port of London where thousands of pounds of phony merchandise were found.
ABC News spoke with bill Bilan, the Trading Standards Institute's Olympic strategy group chairman, who said:
"We're really busy and getting busier."
Kids used to make fake stuff
Counterfeit merchandise is generally of inferior quality, and may or may not cost less than the better-made legitimate items. But even more importantly, according to Interpol, child labor is often employed in the making of the shoddy knock-off merchandise. And the profits made from bogus merchandise may support criminal and terrorist organizations.
Recognizing phonies
There is only one place to buy legitimate Olympic souvenirs outside of Olympic Park. It is on Rotten Row in London's Hyde Park as a temporary structure. All legitimate souvenirs will also have a holographic tag that rotates on it. Even though it is hard to tell the phony stuff from the real now with all the technology out there, these are some guidelines to follow.
Daily finance points out that you need to watch for misspelled names, poor stitching, uneven colors and any other thing that might indicate the product is phony. Do not buy merchandise unless it is from a trusted vendor such as the ones mentioned above. The finance site points out that you might end up losing the merchandise in consumers on the way home anyway, so it is certainly not worth it.
Also, if the cost seems too low to be real... you know the rest of the sentence.
Counterfeiting is stealing
Much like bootlegging movies and music, the sale of counterfeit merchandise is stealing. It takes advantage of the goodwill built by others, and takes sales based on that goodwill away from them.
There was an enormous Major League Baseball merchandise ring in Kansas City that Gilbert Trill and his team stopped. Trill is an assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in the area. He explained:
"Selling counterfeit goods is stealing. Counterfeit goods steal U.S. jobs, create inferior and sometimes dangerous products, and support criminal organizations."
Opportunity for stealing at Olympics
There are a lot of scams around with the Olympics too. On Jun 8, specialists seized 500 cigarette lighters, 400 vests and 7,000 fake Olympic tote bags at the Port of London where thousands of pounds of phony merchandise were found.
ABC News spoke with bill Bilan, the Trading Standards Institute's Olympic strategy group chairman, who said:
"We're really busy and getting busier."
Kids used to make fake stuff
Counterfeit merchandise is generally of inferior quality, and may or may not cost less than the better-made legitimate items. But even more importantly, according to Interpol, child labor is often employed in the making of the shoddy knock-off merchandise. And the profits made from bogus merchandise may support criminal and terrorist organizations.
Recognizing phonies
There is only one place to buy legitimate Olympic souvenirs outside of Olympic Park. It is on Rotten Row in London's Hyde Park as a temporary structure. All legitimate souvenirs will also have a holographic tag that rotates on it. Even though it is hard to tell the phony stuff from the real now with all the technology out there, these are some guidelines to follow.
Daily finance points out that you need to watch for misspelled names, poor stitching, uneven colors and any other thing that might indicate the product is phony. Do not buy merchandise unless it is from a trusted vendor such as the ones mentioned above. The finance site points out that you might end up losing the merchandise in consumers on the way home anyway, so it is certainly not worth it.
Also, if the cost seems too low to be real... you know the rest of the sentence.
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