Buying a counterfeit watch may seem like harmless fun, but it undermines the very kudos you want.
Getting a piece of fake bling on your wrist is another of those counterfeit purchases which seems more roguish than problematic. Those expensive brands, those elite Swiss watches are beyond the economic means of most of us, but the style magazines keep telling us that it’s a status symbol to aspire to.
Hence people will take a short cut - to the tune of depriving the Swiss economy of almost $3.5 billion a year in watches alone.
Yet it’s seen as a legitimate act. There’s hundreds, if not thousands, of websites selling ‘genuine fake watches’. Mimicking the best brands is seen as a bit of a laugh. Some fakes are almost knowingly shoddy, while some do their best to replicate some aspects of the quality.
All are illegal.
The illegality almost comes as a surprise to purchasers. But, in many territories, to buy, or supply, goods which breach trademark and design patents is against the law. While some may feel a breach of trademark is petty, it’s also fruitless. The trade is, effectively, in the brand reputation and the skilled design and manufacture. The person who buys the fake undermines that brand and ends up with poor quality goods too. They may have spent tens or hundreds on it, rather than thousands, but they’ve still wasted their money.
And that may not be the only money they lose. Most of the counterfeit trade is online, with many sites happily showcasing their illegal goods, with the rise of online marketplaces and social media selling driving even more trade. This gives the sort of gangs and criminals who work in that space much more opportunity to hack credit card and identity details. They avoid detection by simply abandoning domains and shutting down sites and re-opening others to begin the process again. Buying more domains, with the credit card details they stole from their last customers.
And, according to Interpol, those involved in this sort of identity theft and counterfeiting are also commonly involved in drug trafficking, people smuggling, pornography and even terrorism.
That fake watch is not so roguish now - so take a look at how Crime Stoppers International are working with crime agencies around the world to stop this and other counterfeit selling and shut down these dangerous criminal enterprises.
