Bogus sports merchandising is a criminal industry that nets billions a year worldwide. This year, there will be even more, with the world's focus on the London Olympics. British specialists have already made countless arrests for attempting to move phony mementos. And they are warning vacationers coming to see the games to be cautious about what they purchase.
Not legal
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.
Gilbert Trill is an assistant special agent in charge of a Homeland Security Investigations unit in Kansas City. Recently, he and his team cracked down on a bogus Major League Baseball merchandising ring in KS City. He said:
"Selling counterfeit goods is stealing. Counterfeit goods steal U.S. jobs, create inferior and sometimes dangerous products, and support criminal organizations."
A ton of Olympic fraud
ABC reported seizure of thousands of pounds of bogus merchandise at Port of London on June 8 including 400 vests, 500 cigarette lighters and 7,000 Olympic tote bags.
ABC News spoke with bill Bilan, the Trading Standards Institute's Olympic strategy group chairman, who said:
"We're really busy and getting busier."
Phony merchandise not good
Child labor is almost always used when it comes to making knock-off merchandise, according to Interpol, and criminal and terrorist activity is usually supported by the proceeds. On top of that, bogus merchandise does not cost less than legitimate items occasionally and is not of good of quality.
Spotting phonies
In recent years, with improved technologies, it has become more and more difficult to detect the real merchandise from the bogus. However, any legitimate Olympics souvenir will have a holographic tag that rotates. Also, outside of Olympic Park, there is only one place where legitimate mementos are sold. That is at a temporary structure on Rotten Row in London's Hyde Park.
Daily finance points out that you should try to find 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.
Do not ever purchase something that is too good of a deal. It probably is a scam.
Not legal
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.
Gilbert Trill is an assistant special agent in charge of a Homeland Security Investigations unit in Kansas City. Recently, he and his team cracked down on a bogus Major League Baseball merchandising ring in KS City. He said:
"Selling counterfeit goods is stealing. Counterfeit goods steal U.S. jobs, create inferior and sometimes dangerous products, and support criminal organizations."
A ton of Olympic fraud
ABC reported seizure of thousands of pounds of bogus merchandise at Port of London on June 8 including 400 vests, 500 cigarette lighters and 7,000 Olympic tote bags.
ABC News spoke with bill Bilan, the Trading Standards Institute's Olympic strategy group chairman, who said:
"We're really busy and getting busier."
Phony merchandise not good
Child labor is almost always used when it comes to making knock-off merchandise, according to Interpol, and criminal and terrorist activity is usually supported by the proceeds. On top of that, bogus merchandise does not cost less than legitimate items occasionally and is not of good of quality.
Spotting phonies
In recent years, with improved technologies, it has become more and more difficult to detect the real merchandise from the bogus. However, any legitimate Olympics souvenir will have a holographic tag that rotates. Also, outside of Olympic Park, there is only one place where legitimate mementos are sold. That is at a temporary structure on Rotten Row in London's Hyde Park.
Daily finance points out that you should try to find 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.
Do not ever purchase something that is too good of a deal. It probably is a scam.
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