Hello bargainhuntingdoc-ga,
.
I’m sorry to hear that you were relieved to the tune of $75 illegally.
.
Unfortunately resources in manpower and money means investigations
cannot always be as intensive and extensive as they should. Just
reference that to the real world when crime happens, e.g. house break
ins and car crime, they get reported (if they get reported, some
people have such a lack of confidence in the system they don’t bother)
but the majority go unsolved. It’s also a matter of policing
resources.
.
For legal violations on the internet, there are also geographical
boundaries and the enforcing and prosecution role becomes blurred, and
the consumer is confused even who to report it to.
.
This Trading Standards Office
http://www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/trading_standards/advice/gn39.html
clarifies for traders
.
“WHAT PRODUCTS ARE AFFECTED?”
.
“HOW DOES THE LAW CONTROL THE PROBLEM?”
.
“WHO COMMITS OFFENCES?”
.
“HOW TO AVOID PROBLEMS”
.
“WHAT TO LOOK FOR”
.
“WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF CONTRAVENTION?
.
It is the responsibility of the trader to take all reasonable
precautions to avoid having counterfeit products for sale on his
premises.
.
Contravention may result in prosecution for offences under the Trade
Descriptions Act, Trade Marks Act or Copyright, Design and Patents
Act. Fines of up to £5,000 can be imposed in the Magistrates' Court
and/or imprisonment for up to six months. Unlimited fines may be
imposed by the Crown Court with up to ten years imprisonment for Trade
Marks offences.
.
Forfeiture and destruction of all goods seized may be ordered by the
Courts.
.
Theft Act - in appropriate cases prosecution for deception may be
appropriate.
.
Under copyright legislation a copyright owner may also sue for damages
in the civil courts.
.
If you are offered goods of any description which you suspect as being
counterfeit you may pass any information about the seller to an
officer of the Trading Standards Department, in confidence or
anonymously if you wish. Any information will be of use; names,
addresses, telephone numbers, vehicle types and registration numbers.”
.
There is the Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy
http://www.aacp.org.uk/cost/index.html
.
“a unique coalition of trade and enforcement organisations, providing
a single voice for those who share an interest in preventing
counterfeiting and piracy in the UK”
.
and it reports
.
“The Real Rip Off: Counterfeiting Costs Britain an Annual £9 billion
.
The theft of ideas (counterfeiting and piracy) costs UK plc billions
of pounds and thousands of jobs each year. A survey by members of the
Alliance found that the UK market in counterfeit and pirated goods was
worth an estimated £9 billion in 2000. The Exchequer lost over a
billion pounds in tax revenue. That money could have been used to pay
for health or education or tax cuts. It would cover the cost of
doubling the rise in old age pensions this year. Instead, the money is
going to counterfeiters, organised crime and rogue traders - that's
the real 'rip off Britain'.”
.
There are also some case studies
http://www.aacp.org.uk/cost/casestudies.html
.
Counterfeit Spice Girls CDs Seized
.
An apparently multi-million pound CD counterfeiting ring was smashed
when police in Derby seized hundreds of fake music CDs and computer
games. The material seized included work by major artists such as the
Spice Girls, Robbie Williams, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. It
also included computer hardware worth over £15,000 which is capable of
being used for producing professional looking label inserts for pirate
discs. The operation is only one example of the success of Alliance
members, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the European
Leisure Software Publisher Association in exposing counterfeiting.
Other operations include the seizure of 10,000 illegal CDs at the NEC
record fair worth £150,000.”
.
.
So in some instances there are seizures of material, however it is
extremely distressing when counterfeits go beyond just monetary
losses, and start to endanger life.
.
Killer Teletubbies
.
Counterfeit 'Teletubbies' bean bags sold by a market trader in
Chepstow were potential killers. Marked inflammable in tests the bags
were engulfed in flames within 90 seconds. John Berry, of Newport, was
sentenced to 200 hours community service and ordered to pay £1000
costs in April 1999.
.
Fake Vaccines Lead to 3,000 Deaths
.
Following reports of a meningitis epidemic in Niger, the internal
community responded in September 1997 by sending vaccine. One such
shipment comprising 68,000 doses was sent to Nigeria via the World
Health Organisation. There, it appears to have been counterfeited.
Later tests by the manufacturer, Merieux, confirmed that the
substitute 'vaccine' had no active ingredient. Three thousand deaths
are thought to have resulted.
.
Here is the measurable amount that was lost
http://www.aacp.org.uk/cost/survey.html
.
Here is a very recent article on large scale fraud from BBC news.
.
“An estimated £100m is being conned out of British residents each year
by foreign prize draw scams, an investigation by BBC Radio Five Live
has found. “
.
“The government is so concerned about the fraud it is planning an
awareness campaign to alert consumers. “ - so clearly it is difficult
catching the criminals and policy is to warn.
.
“Millions of letters arrive through UK letterboxes from abroad each
year claiming that the householder has already won a guaranteed prize
of either a huge cash sum or a gift like a holiday or a new car.
The scam takes various forms, but in most cases the reader is told
they need to send a small administrative fee of between £10 and £35 to
release their winnings. “
.
“A raid on a PO box in Canada, used by one company involved in the
deceit, revealed five boxes crammed with 25,000 cheques and postal
orders from the UK, each worth between £12-£14 - making a total haul
of £300,000-£350,000. “
.
“The hoard accounted for just six days' worth of post. Similar
enquiries at a PO box in Ireland revealed 2-3,000 letters containing
£5 cheques were arriving each day. “
.
“One of the difficulties investigators face is that the fraudsters can
quickly close down one operation and start up a new one in a different
style and with a changed address.”
.
“The OFT was given new powers in February this year which means it can
now take court action against European companies in their home
country.
.
Tony Northcott, of the Trading Standards Institute, told 5Live:
"Obviously the more complaints and the more information we have on the
size and scale of things the better chance there is of finding an
injunction.
.
"The difficulty is they close down the PO box numbers and disappear
quite rapidly so we have to move quite quickly." “
.
This remains the problem with investigating scams, they have a high
level of anonymity and can move on very quickly to avoid
investigation.
.
They get away or trade to elude policing and investigation by using PO
boxes as opposed to real geographical addresses, non geographical
phone numbers like 0870 or mobile numbers, register domain names
anonymously and use free webmail addresses in communications.
.
So email type scams are very difficult to investigate
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_2003000/2003264.stm
.
The London Trading Standards Authorities website warns about
counterfeit goods
http://www.lotsa.org.uk/bus_counterfeit_goods.htm
.
It warns who is liable:
“In general criminal offences under the legislation cover all stages -
from persons involved in manufacture and distribution to the retail
supply of offending items.”
.
and the consequences if counterfeit goods are found:
“It is the responsibility of the trader to take all reasonable
precautions to avoid having counterfeit products for sale on his
premises.
.
Contravention may result in prosecution for offences under the Trade
Descriptions Act, Trade Marks Act or Copyright, Design and Patents
Act. Fines of up to £5000 can be imposed in the Magistrates' Court
and/or imprisonment for up to six months. Unlimited fines may be
imposed by the Crown Court with up to ten years imprisonment for Trade
Marks offences.
.
Forfeiture and destruction of all goods seized may be ordered by the
Courts.
.
Theft Act - in appropriate cases prosecution for deception may be
appropriate.
.
Under copyright legislation a copyright owner may also sue for damages
in the civil courts.
.
If you are offered goods of any description, which you suspect as
being counterfeit, you may pass any information about the seller to
the Trading Standards Service in confidence, or anonymously if you
wish. Any information will be of use; names, addresses, telephone
numbers, vehicle types and registration numbers.”
.
The penalties for counterfeit goods are probably not heavy enough, and
for organised crime criminals the soft option in comparison with
dealing with drugs, firearms etc.
.
The National Criminal Intelligence Service is one body that
investigates organised criminals and you may have heard they were
involved with the recent crack down on a paedophile gang.
.
http://www.ncis.co.uk
.
There clearly is action against software piracy too
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/17150.html
.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/the_company_file/newsid_369000/369971.stm
The person behind the $63.8m worth of counterfeit programs was
sentenced by a German court to four years in prison, which seems
fairly low in comparison to other organised crime.
.
Investigations in general are out to catch the person at the top,
logical deduction indciates dispersing the effort to focus on lesser
criminals who sell a couple of counterfeit watches on an auction site
is perhaps not utilising the limited man power resources effectively,
and is not attacking the root of the problem, the person at the top,
or the manufacturer of these counterfeit products.
.
I hope the feedback was useful, and maybe there will be other comments
added.
.
.
Search strategy:
.
customs, counterfeit, goods, seized
://www.google.com/search?q=heathrow+customs+counterfeit+goods+seized&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&start=10&sa=N
.
investigations, uk, scams
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&q=investigations+uk+scams&spell=1.
.
combating, internet, fraud, uk
://www.google.com/search?q=combating+internet+fraud+uk&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&start=0&sa=N
.
kind regards,
.
lot-ga |
