Parents in Nghe An are confused because of the chaos in the market of fake and pirated books.

It is not difficult to detect fake books.
Like every year, since the end of June, Ms. Nguyen Thi Trinh (Vinh Tan Ward, Vinh City) ordered textbooks for her child at a familiar store on Le Duan Street (Vinh City). Ms. Trinh said that she chose this store because it has long been providing book wrapping services. She also trusts the store because it has been in operation for a long time and has a stable source of books.

However, recently, when people talked about fake textbooks and pirated textbooks, she started to pay attention and re-check the new set of books she bought for her child. As a result, most of the reference books were fake. Speaking more about this, Ms. Trinh said: “When I got the books home, they were carefully wrapped and labeled, so I didn’t pay attention. But when I looked closely, I discovered that they were fake books and I was really worried about whether the quality of the books was guaranteed or not.”

An interdisciplinary inspection team inspects a book and stationery store in Vinh city. Photo: My Ha

At the largest bookstore in Vinh city, when asked about counterfeit and pirated books, the bookstore staff showed us many different pieces of evidence. For example, the book “Learning Fine Arts for Grade 4” (based on competency) published by the Vietnam Education Publishing House and the counterfeit textbooks look very similar in color, images and content. However, upon closer inspection, there is a difference: the real book has smooth printed paper while the counterfeit book has rough paper.

On the cover of a real book, if you look closely, there will be quite clear vertical lines, but the lines on the fake book are messy. Or like the book "Advanced Vietnamese Exercise Book 2", it is difficult to distinguish between the real and fake books with the naked eye. However, flipping the book over, testing the two stamps to distinguish between the real and fake ones is very easy. If it is a fake stamp, just gently peel it off. However, if it is a real book, the stamp is very difficult to peel off, when held up to the light, the logo of the Vietnam Education Publishing House will be clearly visible.

With many years of experience in making textbooks, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien - Deputy Head of Sales Department - School and Equipment Books Company said: "There are quite a lot of fake books nowadays and buyers just need to be observant to be able to distinguish them with the naked eye. Particularly, with fake textbooks, fake books often focus on books such as English books, reference books, and Fine Arts books because these are books with quite high prices and high profits. Even if selling these books, sellers can discount up to 40 - 50%".
Pirated books are increasingly diverse
Regarding the market of pirated and fake books, every year, during the summer, the provincial Interdisciplinary Inspection Team conducts inspections at textbook and stationery stores throughout the province. After many years of direct inspection, Ms. Tran Thi Quynh Nhu - inspector at the Department of Information and Communications also said: "In addition to textbooks, some other books are also counterfeited such as story books, English books according to current programs of reputable publishers. It is quite dangerous for students to buy these books because many of the contents are not true to the official books. Moreover, if they are foreign language books, students will not be able to activate the scratch card because the usage code may have been activated or the scratch card is fake and cannot be used."

Real book (right) and fake book (left). Photo: My Ha

The representative of the inspection team also said that buyers can easily distinguish them by simple tricks. For example, English books often have barcode labels on the back for students to use when studying online. If the book is genuine, when shining a flashlight (or phone light) on the barcode, the viewer will not see any image appear.

However, if the book is fake, just shine a flashlight and a series of numbers will appear. A worrying thing is that currently, fake books account for a large number in the area, about more than 50%, but detection, inspection and handling are not easy.

On the consumer side, even though they know that the books are fake or pirated, they still deliberately buy them because they are cheap and have high discounts. Or, in some cases, stores deliberately mix fake books with real books to confuse consumers. Ms. Dang Thi Thu Ha - Dong Vinh ward said: "I often have the habit of buying books at stores on Nguyen Van Cu street, but every year I encounter a few fake books. It is very difficult to avoid this situation because the book designs are very similar and if you do not read the content carefully, you cannot distinguish them."

In recent years, many schools have also provided textbooks for students through the school library system, but they still cannot avoid pirated and fake books because there are many textbook suppliers, including private ones. And, in many different ways, pirated books still openly infiltrate schools.

There were even years when many schools in districts such as Yen Thanh, Thanh Chuong, Dien Chau and Cua Lo town had pirated books of English, Math practice books and Vietnamese books accounting for 20 - 80%.
Currently, there are more than 200 bookstores in the province, but the inspection force is small, so they cannot conduct regular inspections. Mr. Tran Anh Tuan - Chief Inspector of the Department of Information and Communications added: "Currently, counterfeit books focus on books of great value and counterfeiting is more sophisticated to oppose functional officials."

This year, textbooks are enough to supply for the new school year. Photo: My Ha

Reality also shows that businesses have many ways to circumvent the law, such as displaying only a small quantity in the store, and hiding the rest when customers buy. Meanwhile, the functional inspection team does not have the authority to inspect private places. Or, instead of keeping books in stock as before, now the publishing units will transfer them directly when the store needs them, so in many cases the inspection team cannot detect fake or pirated books.

Since the beginning of summer, through inspections, the interdisciplinary inspection team of Nghe An province has seized 500 copies of pirated and fake books and fined 5 stores a total of 39 million VND in Do Luong, Tan Ky, Dien Chau districts and Vinh city. Most of the pirated books discovered were mainly imported from Nhan Dan Bookstore in Hanoi.
Based on this reality, the Department of Information and Communications Inspectorate said that it has coordinated with the Ministry of Information and Communications Inspectorate and related departments and agencies to coordinate inspection and handling of violations. At the same time, in the coming time, it will expand inspection and examination work, resolutely not allowing fake and pirated books to enter schools to ensure the rights of all students and consumers.