According to the New York Times (June 4, 2004), approximately 17 men were arrested in a "sting" operation to catch illegal sellers of fake designer handbags. Smugglers paid one million dollars to undercover operatives posing as corrupt customs agents. Forty foot shipping containers loaded with fake Louis Vuitton handbags, Cartiers, and Gucci purses made in factories in China were shipped to this country. These purses were then sent to stores in Chinatown and Canal Street in New York City through ports in New Jersey, where custom officials received $50,000.00 each time a shipment was cleared.
Smuggling operations were conducted out of a storefront on Canal Street where a second, hidden back room was filled with designer fake handbags. The display wall in the "legimate" store contained a remote controlled door leading to the secret storage area filled with illegal purses.
There is a difference between handbags that are obviously not an original (replicas) and bags that are sold as real designer handbags. For example, there are the designer fakes that have an "LV" exactly mimicking a genuine Louis Vuitton and a purse that has different initials but a very similar design. Usually, the craftmanship is inferior in a knockoff designer bag - puckered seams, low quality leather, and large and uneven stitching. Unfortunately, counterfeiters are becoming more sophisticated in the construction of their handbags and sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference!
Another giveaway for fakes is the price - real Louis Vuitton handbags sell for about $500.00 to thousands of dollars and a knockoff can be purchased for around $100.00 to $200.00 each. Incidentially, Louis Vuitton does not sell factory rejects. If a purse does not meet their standards of quality, it is destroyed. Also, if you buy your purse out of the trunk of a car, you can pretty much bet it's not real!
Another raid was recently conducted in Conneticut at a local flea market in Wellingford. Nine people were arrested for selling counterfeit items including fake designer handbags and watches. A total of 4,483 items were seized. Another raid took place in Dallas, Texas and $250,000.00 in goods were confiscated. To give you an idea of the magnitude of the problem, this store has over $100,000.00 in sales in just one month!
So what harm does it do to purchase a fake designer handbag? There are a multitude of reasons to NOT buy knockoffs, beginng with the fact that we, as taxpayers, carry the burder for this tax-free business. According to government sources, 200 billion dollars is approximately the amount that counterfeiters do not pay - this means that honest taxpayers make up the difference!Another reason is organized crime. By purchasing a designer fake handbag, we are supporting illegal activity. There is even some evidence that part of the money for bombing the World Trade Center came from the sale of counterfeit goods.There is also documentation that these purses are made by child laborers in unsafe conditions.
How do smugglers get around the law? One way is for designer fake handbags to be imported without the labels. Customs will not seize these purses without the designer labels because then there is no proof. The tags are then added on the goods in this country.Fines of not more than $250,000.00 and no more than 5 years in jail await these smugglers. The profits range in millions of dollars per years.
If you want to help stop counterfeiters, you can report these fake designer handbags at the genuine websites of all the handbag designers such as Coach, Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, Dior, Gucci, etc.
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