Consumer goods
The criminal conduct of counterfeiting has assumed the dimensions of real business activities, able to embrace the most various product sectors, from clothing, accessories, leather goods, luxury products, perfumes and recently also food products, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.Up until twenty years ago, the phenomenon of counterfeiting mainly concerned luxury goods, which guaranteed the producers and sellers of fakes the realization of huge profits, marketing small quantities of goods at high prices; the reproduction of such goods required considerable technical and craft skills, which allowed to transform poor materials into products similar to valuable products, able to deceive even not incompetent buyers. The characteristics of these counterfeit productions lay mainly in the accuracy of the realizations, in the reduced number of specimens produced and in the sale prices of the single goods relatively high, so as to guarantee an adequate profit margin and without raising the suspicion of the purchaser convinced of buying authentic goods at a market price lower than the official one.
Since the beginning of the 1980s, however, the areas of production and commerce of "fake artifacts" have undergone profound evolutions: the counterfeiting market has been oriented towards the production and mass sale of consumer goods, such as drugs and equipment, perfumes, cosmetics and detergents, household appliances, car parts, gadgets and travel tickets, engravings, prints and lithographs.
Pharmaceuticals and Equipment
WHO defines a drug as counterfeit if the labeling has been deliberately and fraudulently prepared with misleading information about the content or origin of the product.
It is in the last decade that the phenomenon of production and sale of counterfeit drugs has reached such proportions as to represent a serious public health problem as well as a huge economic damage.
In developing countries, counterfeiting has an extremely high prevalence, mainly due to insufficient human and financial resources and weak legislation regarding the production, distribution and importation of medicines. The phenomenon mainly concerns life-saving drugs such as antibiotics, antimalarials, antituberculosis drugs and antiretrovirals for AIDS treatment.
Pharmaceutical counterfeiting in industrialized countries has very different characteristics and extent than in developing countries. The phenomenon, in fact, mainly concerns new and expensive drugs, the so-called "life-style products" (anabolic steroids, growth hormones, some glucocorticoids, products against impotence and some psychotropics). These counterfeit products are often sold illegally in so-called "afro-shops", gyms and through the internet.
Perfumes
When we talk about counterfeiting of products such as perfumes, it is mostly counterfeiting/imitation of a known brand, as it is very difficult to counterfeit an essence in its exact form and quality.
The scents of the most famous brands in the world are mostly created by international companies whose deontology prevents them from producing the same composition or its imitation for two different clients/brands and making a perfume represents a difficult and complex work of preparation and selection of raw materials whose quality is not always easily available or reproducible.
Cosmetici e detersivi
Before buying a cosmetic product, it is important to carefully read the the ingredient list in the formulation. The ingredients must be listed in descending order: first those contained in larger quantities and then the others, up to those present below 1%, which can be listed in random order.
Household appliances
Untested appliances can be risky. By law, the names of the importer, manufacturer and authorized representative must always be indicated: if they are missing, we are dealing with an unsafe product.
Unlike other product sectors in which there is also an Italian production of fakes, it is mostly an imitation of the brand and a production that takes place abroad and then imported and sold in Italy.
These are appliances without safety requirements, sold outside the authorized circuits, meaning 'door to door', in conventions, auctions and through telesales on regional and national broadcasters.
Auto Parts
They are among the most counterfeit products. But above all, safety is at stake. Anyone who drives a car with unsafe spare parts is exposing himself to serious risks.
European legislation requires that all parts and components essential to the safety and environmental performance of motor vehicles undergo testing before they can be placed on the EU market. Counterfeiters ignore these requirements, and to no small degree.
Some of the most commonly counterfeited parts include brake pads.
The fakes are often made from poor materials, such as wood chips or even grass.
