counterfeit

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1.5K Counterfeit Hermes Purses Seized in LA

Would have been worth $14M if they were real

(Newser) - Federal authorities found quite a stash at the Port of Los Angeles last month: 1,500 counterfeit Hermes purses, which would have been worth $14 million at their genuine selling price, the Los Angeles Times reports. The handbags, made in China and headed for sale in the US and Mexico,...

Tiffany Sues Costco for Billions Over Fake Rings

Costco allegedly sold hundreds of rings falsely claiming they were Tiffany

(Newser) - Costco has been hit by a potentially multi-billion-dollar lawsuit by Tiffany, as the luxury goods company claims the giant retailer sold hundreds, if not thousands, of diamond engagement rings labeled as Tiffany—which they weren't, reports Reuters . Tiffany was told by a customer in November that rings in a...

Border Agents Seize 20K Fake Designer Shoes

Christian Louboutin clones might have fetched $18M on black market

(Newser) - Beware of fake fancy footwear. US customs agents seized about 20,000 pairs of counterfeit Christian Louboutin shoes at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport. The shoes came in on a cargo ship from China, and they could have fetched upward of $18 million on the black market, reports ABC News...

Chinese Gangs Making ... Fake Italian Train Tickets?

'Leonardo Express' forgeries found in shipping container

(Newser) - Italian cops have seized phony train tickets worth a massive $35 million, but the forger of the "Leonardo Express" tickets didn't have the skills of the Rome airport train's namesake. The tickets, found in a shipping container from China, were paler than the genuine article and the...

Police Grab $6 Trillion in Phony US Bonds

Crooks wanted forgeries to buy plutonium: Italian paper

(Newser) - A minor crime averted in Italy: Police seized $6 trillion in phony US Treasury bonds that a criminal network reportedly planned to use to buy plutonium. Cops grabbed the fake bonds at a Swiss trust company in the city of Potenza, they said yesterday. US experts identified the forgeries and...

Dangerous Counterfeit Cancer Drug Found in US

Fake Avastin missing active ingredient

(Newser) - A fake version of best-selling anti-cancer drug Avastin has been found in the US. Swiss drugmaker Roche has warned doctors and hospitals to be on the lookout for the counterfeit medication, which lacks the intravenous drug's active ingredient, the Wall Street Journal reports. Samples of the fake drug are...

Guy Pays Walmart Tab With $1M Bill
 Guy Pays 
 Walmart Tab 
 With $1M Bill 
in case you missed it
Jan 7, 2012 7:00 AM CST

Guy Pays Walmart Tab With $1M Bill

Store employees weren't buying it

(Newser) - He definitely wanted to keep the change: Cops have charged a North Carolina man after he attempted to pay a $476 Walmart tab ... with a $1 million bill. Seems that 53-year-old Michael Fuller bought a vacuum, microwave, among other items, and forked over the bill when it came time to...

Feds Grab 150 Websites in Counterfeit Case

Online sellers 'lured in holiday shoppers': official

(Newser) - Buyers of online counterfeit goods may find their favorite websites are under federal lock-down, NPR reports. Authorities have impounded the domain names of 150 websites suspected of selling pirated or counterfeit items, they said today. That includes sellers of DVD sets, golf equipment, and professional sports jerseys. "For most,...

Knock-Off Bags May Boost Sales of Real Thing

Counterfeit items seem to have an unexpected effect

(Newser) - A New York City councilwoman is trying to make it illegal to own a knock-off designer bag in her district of Chinatown, on the grounds that it hurts business for the real designer. Not so fast, writes Ray Fisman at Slate . Counterfeits may actually help those businesses by essentially acting...

'Shoeless' Joe Jackson Hall of Fame Jersey a Fake

One of a handful of fake items in huge collection

(Newser) - For 10 years, the Baseball Hall of Fame displayed a jersey supposedly worn by "Shoeless" Joe Jackson during the 1919 World Series—which he and his teammates infamously threw. Turns out the jersey, just like the Series, is a fake. It was pulled from display in 2008, and a...

Buyers Scammed for Millions in Record EBay Ripoff

Customers paid big bucks for counterfeit products

(Newser) - Consumers around the world were bilked out of millions of dollars for counterfeit golf clubs in the biggest-ever eBay scam, reports the Times of London. The clubs, as well as clothing, accessories and passes for an airline lounge, were auctioned online from 2004-2008 by a criminal network involving crooks from...

Peru Flooding US With Counterfeit Bills

About $8 million in fake greenbacks found in U.S., another $18 million in Peru

(Newser) - American officials have seized some $8 million in high-quality counterfeit US bills made in Peru, reports the Los Angeles Times. South American raids have uncovered another $18 million. The massive number of fake bills costs businesses and individuals millions, and threatens to undermine confidence in US currency, warn officials. "...

$134B Bond Fraud May Be Mob Handiwork

US, Italian authorities blame organized crime for huge counterfeiting

(Newser) - The counterfeit bonds with a face value of $134 billion seized near the Swiss border are probably the work of the Mafia, say Italian and American secret services. The mystery surrounding the suitcase stuffed with fake US Treasury bonds deepened yesterday, after a blog revealed that police had released the...

Boy George Replaces Queen on Fake Bills

British shop workers fooled by his-head-for-hers forgery

(Newser) - Boy George made a convincing stand-in for the Queen on a counterfeit note found in Britain this week, the Daily Telegraph reports. The £20 note was passed at a stationary shop and the staff didn't realize it was a fake until a bank worker checked the anti-forgery watermark and...

Exploding Cell Phone Kills Man
 Exploding Cell Phone Kills Man 
Feb 3, 2009 4:57 AM CST

Exploding Cell Phone Kills Man

Chinese cops suspect counterfeit battery may have caused phone to blow up

(Newser) - A man in Guangzhou, China, was killed last week when his cell phone blew up and severed an artery in his neck, the Times of London reports. The young shop clerk is believed to have put the phone in his breast pocket straight after charging a new battery before it...

Feds: Today's Counterfeiters Are Poor Copies

Ink-jet amateurs replace skilled crooks who once fooled experts

(Newser) - Secret Service agents are waxing nostalgic for counterfeiters of old, the Kansas City Star reports. The printers who once produced 20s, 50s, and 100s good enough to fool experts have been replaced by home office crooks who reproduce small bills on ink-jet printers. "It’s a lost art,"...

Tobacco Crackdown Aims to Douse Smuggling Efforts

Making supply chain more transparent among goals of international talks

(Newser) - Negotiators from over 150 countries are working with the World Health Organization to shape a proposal intended to combat the global trade in illegal cigarettes, Portfolio reports. Anti-tobacco advocates say current measures are insufficient to stem the illicit production or smuggling that accounts for 11% of worldwide tobacco sales, and...

Printers Let Big Brother Connect Privacy Dots

Watchdogs worry about anti-counterfeit marks left by laser models

(Newser) - The growing popularity of laser printers has privacy watchdogs worried, USA Today reports. Many such printers have a feature, designed to foil currency counterfeiters, that puts a signature of microscopic dots on each page. In the US, only the Secret Service can decode the information, but there are concerns the...

EBay Wins Pivotal Tiffany Counterfeit Suit

Tiffany's must police their own mark, decides federal court

(Newser) - A US judge ruled today that eBay had taken sufficient steps to stop the sale of fake Tiffany jewelry, the Wall Street Journal reports. Ruling on a suit filed by the New York-based jeweler, the judge deemed Tiffany responsible for monitoring its trademark. It was a pivotal victory for eBay,...

Luxe Knockoffs Cost eBay $63M
Luxe Knockoffs Cost eBay $63M
Jun 30, 2008 4:48 PM CDT

Luxe Knockoffs Cost eBay $63M

French court favors Louis Vuitton; auction giant may boost anti- counterfeit measures

(Newser) - A French court sided today with couturier Louis Vuitton in a suit against eBay, ruling the auctioneer must pay $63.1 million in damages for fake goods sold on its site—a ruling the Wall Street Journal says will force eBay to step up anti-counterfeiting protections. EBay says it will...

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