Fake UGG boots, GHD hair straighteners, iPhones and iPads are among the tens of thousands of counterfeit items that have been seized by UKBA officers as they have been brought into the country in recent months.
Grant Miller of the UK Border Agency’s Heathrow International Trade Division said: “Buyers can be left with products which are, at best, inferior to genuine ones and, at worst, harmful or unsafe. We are uncovering all sorts of fake goods, from beauty products to children’s toys, and we’re warning people to be particularly wary of buying cheap items online or from unofficial traders.”
Miller went on to say: “It’s easy to be tricked into thinking you’re getting a bargain, but in the run-up to Christmas our message is that if something appears too good to be true it probably is.”
Cost to the UK economy? GB pound 1.3 billion
Immigration minister Damian Green said: “We are dealing with a huge criminal business. The international trade in counterfeit goods is serious organised crime and, for the gangs behind it, it is low-risk and high-reward. Intellectual property crime is a serious economic threat, and it’s estimated to be worth around GB pound 1.3 billion in the UK each year.”
The minister continued: “That’s why we have UK Border Agency officers operating 24 hours a day at ports, airports and mail sorting centres and they have seized thousands of counterfeit items that could otherwise have ended up as gifts this Christmas.”
Trading Standards Institute chief executive Ron Gainsford said: “In this difficult economic climate money is tight for many of us, but there could be a high price to pay for bargain presents that aren’t ‘the real deal’. Trading standards are working hard with other authorities to stop criminals ruining consumers’ festive spirit as millions of low-quality and potentially dangerous counterfeit products are flooding the country in time for Christmas, particularly by way of markets, car boot sales and online.”
Gainsford also said: “Check, double check and check again to make sure what you are buying and where you are buying from is the real deal.”
Seizures made by the UK Border Agency
Seizures made by UKBA officials in the last 12 months alone include:
- 45,000 pairs of fake UGG boots were found in container freight in Southampton in August – the biggest such seizure in Europe
- 13,000 items valued at approximately GB pound 14.5 million were intercepted at Coventry postal hub – the majority of these were bought online and shipped to the UK from abroad
- a consignment of fake Disney, Hello Kitty, Thomas the Tank Engine and other toys worth around GB pound 50,000 were seized in October at the Port of Dover
- GHD hair straighteners worth more than GB pound 310,000 were seized at Manchester International Airport in November leading to the arrest of two men
- At Heathrow Airport 1,100 seizures were made of items valued at around GB pound 10 million in the first eight months of 2011-2012 – the same number of seizures as in the whole of 2010-2011
- A month-long operation in June led to the seizure of 15,000 items of counterfeit designer clothing at Stansted Airport