Buying a bag, a dress, a sports polo shirt or even a watch that looks like a luxury brand, all at a bargain price, is inevitably very tempting!

And in the age of the Web, it is now much easier to obtain these counterfeit items from your living room, rather than buying them on the street.

In fact, street vendors now represent only 20% of exposure channels according to a recent study by UFC-Que Choisir.

Everything else takes place online via marketplaces, websites, peer-to-peer sales platforms and of course social media.

Young people are also the first to take the bait, according to a survey by the European Union Office for Intellectual Property (Euipo).

Thus, 52% of Europeans (59% in France) aged 15 to 24 bought a counterfeit product in 2022!

However, only 15% of respondents say it was an accident, that they did not know the article was fake, while 37% (29% in France) admit to having acted knowingly. cause…

Unsurprisingly, these two surveys show that clothing is the first target of this traffic, followed by shoes.

Sporting goods, leather goods, jewellery-watchmaking, electronic products and beauty hygiene brands are also concerned.

Beware of risks

But as tempting as they are, these practices are illegal and not without risk for buyers!

Like the seller, the holder is in fact liable to a heavy penalty of up to a fine of €300,000 and three years in prison, depending on the volume of the goods in question.

It goes without saying that the penalties are much lower for the purchase of a single bag or a pair of shoes imitating a brand, but you are not immune to seizure by customs and a fine of between one and two times the value of the object of the fraud!

Some 9.1 million counterfeit items were seized in 2021. And according to the UFC-Que Choisir survey, 24% of buyers said they had paid additional costs through customs, while 12% saw the package simply seized.

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In addition, 22% were disappointed with the products when using them.

However, 76% of those surveyed who voluntarily bought counterfeit products believe that they

"got a good deal"

, when 60% believe that

"it does not really cause any harm to the companies concerned"

.

The traffic is therefore not about to stop.

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