Facebook counterfeit sellers revealed in BBC
investigation
Counterfeit traders using luxury brand names are
openly selling goods on Facebook, BBC South East
has learned.
They have been flooding the social network's
Marketplace site with fake products on such a
scale that some even offer home delivery.
Trading Standards has criticised the social media
giant for not doing enough to stamp out the
practice, which costs the Treasury millions in tax
evasion.
The BBC contacted Facebook, which said it was
investigating the claims.
BBC undercover reporters found sellers in Sussex
and Kent trading from the front rooms of their
homes and from vans in pub car parks.
All admitted they were advertising fake items, which
included jackets, jumpers, tracksuits, boots,
trainers, handbags and perfumes with brand names
such as Gucci, Chanel, Ugg, Nike, Armani and Hugo
Boss.
Live: More news from across the South East
Fake goods worth millions seized ahead of
Christmas
The BBC reported two of the sellers it bought
counterfeit goods from to the social network.
Neither was removed, despite the fact they openly
admitted they were selling replicas.
Mike Andrews, lead co-ordinator of the National
Trading Standards eCrime Team, said: "In our
opinion, we don't think Facebook does enough to
remove the infringing goods that we see on their
platform.
"It's quite easy to go on there now and buy any sort
of counterfeit product you would like, and when
we've approached Facebook to try and get this
content removed they simply don't act quickly
enough, if at all, in many cases."
One counterfeit trader told BBC South East that he
"could get away with it for about six months" before
Facebook closed him down, and "then you start
again".
Imitation Calvin Klein and Superdry clothes have
been among thousands of fake items worth millions
of pounds seized by Border Force officers around
the UK in the run-up to Christmas.
Officers have targeted airports, ports and postal
hubs to detect if imported goods are fake, banned
or if the correct duty has been paid.
Items have included nearly 400 Barcelona and
Borussia Dortmund football shirts seized at the Port
of Dover and on sale for £16,149 in total; 1,440
Superdry hoody tops selling for about £100,000
seized at Southampton port; and 48 pairs of Nike
Vapormax trainers worth £5,760, confiscated at
Manchester Airport.
Det Sgt Kevin Ives, of the City of London Police
Intellectual Property Crime Unit, said fake goods
were produced "en masse" by unregulated workers
abroad before being shipped into the UK via large
organised criminal networks to be sold by
criminals.
He said they included substandard electrical items
and children's toys which put lives at risk.
"The large amounts of ways to sell goods online
makes selling counterfeit goods easier for the
criminals," he said.
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