'Matrix' of counterfeit and fake goods

(Baonghean) - It has become a tradition that at the end of the year, the production and trade of counterfeit and fake goods become more complicated. A series of products are launched on the market with all kinds of designs and labels, making consumers confused in the matrix of real and fake.

Authorities seized cosmetics of unknown origin. Photo: Phuong Thao

True and false mixed together

Walking around kiosks, grocery stores or markets in Dien Chau district, to find a genuine cake package, buyers must be really observant, carefully examining each sign, otherwise it is very easy to buy fake goods. Custard cakes imitating the Custas brand, Orion's Chocopie produced by Hai Viet confectionery manufacturing facility with the ChocoPai label... are typical examples that easily confuse buyers.

And obviously, no one can know each product brand and its distinguishing features among thousands of necessities being sold on the market. Sharing these concerns, Mr. Nguyen Huu Thuong (Dien Thai commune, Dien Chau district) said that not only candies but also fake MSG, fake beer and wine... are sold everywhere.

Mr. Thuong also gave an example of many baby foods produced right in the area where he lives but labeled as Hanoi and then sold. "Every year, near Tet, fake goods flood the market. We just buy them without knowing if they are real or fake," Mr. Thuong said.

Not only that, there is now a new form of selling on the market, which is the “Facebook market”. This is considered one of the popular sales channels because of its large customer reach. However, it is worth mentioning that besides the products with clear quality and origin, many products are counterfeited and sold at very cheap prices.

Counterfeit items of major fashion brands in the world such as Gucci, Louis Vutton, Calvin Klein, HM… are all openly sold; many people even brazenly sell counterfeit money on Facebook.

In fact, any item can be counterfeited, present in all market segments, from clothing, footwear to difficult-to-verify items such as modern medicine, motorbike spare parts, phones... to gasoline.

Recently, public opinion has not yet calmed down when authorities in Nghe An discovered and caught 20 businesses and gas stations mixing and selling “dirty” gasoline. The business owners admitted to selling millions of liters of “dirty” gasoline throughout the province with a formula of 50% gasoline, 50% solvents and colorants. When the incident was exposed, people were startled to realize that they had been deceived and used poor quality gasoline without knowing it.

Hard to control...

Although the authorities have taken drastic measures to prevent the production and trade of counterfeit goods, it seems that these efforts are just a drop in the ocean.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Van Thang - Deputy Head of Nghe An Market Management Department said: "It is very difficult to control thoroughly". Because in reality, taking advantage of the development of new technology, the subjects producing and trading counterfeit goods have used many sophisticated methods and tricks. The counterfeit goods are exactly like the real thing, difficult to distinguish with the naked eye, so it is easy to deceive consumers and bypass the authorities.

These subjects also frequently change sales locations, disperse production stages in many places, deliver goods in many batches, in small quantities, and mix fake and genuine goods.

When discovered by the authorities, the goods are quickly dispersed and hidden in secret places. Meanwhile, many businesses whose products are counterfeited do not dare to speak up for fear of affecting product consumption.

Destroying counterfeit goods, fake goods, and goods of unknown origin. Photo: Phuong Thao

As for consumers, they always complain about this problem but are willing to ignore it and accept low-quality products because they are cheaper, have beautiful designs, and are attractive.

“If there is supply, there will be demand”, people still buy and counterfeit goods are still produced; thus, a segment of consumers are aiding illegal acts.

“Most of the violations we discovered were through surprise inspections and audits. The number of reports from the people is very small, only a handful in a year,” said Mr. Thang.

Another problem that Mr. Thang pointed out is that the work of assessing the quality of goods still faces many difficulties, the assessment centers are far away, the waiting time for the results of the quality assessment to determine the violation is too long, affecting the work of establishing a handling record.

Although the number of inspections is large, they mainly stop at the form of administrative sanctions, so they are not really a deterrent to establishments and individuals who commit commercial fraud. In addition, state management of prices still has many shortcomings; price declaration and registration are not regularly carried out by enterprises; price posting in many places is still a formality, coping, selling at the wrong listed price, especially in markets, causing difficulties for consumers and authorities in performing their duties.

Faced with the reality of counterfeit goods appearing everywhere in the market, many businesses have proactively sought measures to protect themselves, offering solutions against counterfeit goods such as using anti-counterfeit stamps to be able to immediately trace the origin of the product.

However, this is only one of the solutions to prevent and control. To create a healthy competitive market, quality and safe products requires the participation of many levels of sectors from central to local levels, timely detection and strict sanctions for violations.

Authorities must maintain integrity and not accept any behavior that supports violations. More importantly, every citizen must be a smart consumer and not be greedy for cheap or fake goods to avoid consequences for themselves and negative impacts on the market.

Phuong Thao