Parents in Nghe An are confused because of the chaotic 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 for a long time it also provided book wrapping services. She also trusted the store because it had been in operation for a long time and had 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 children. As a result, most of the reference books were fake. Talking more about this, Ms. Trinh said: "When I brought the books home, they were carefully wrapped and labeled, so I didn't pay attention. But when I looked closely, I discovered that these 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 fake and pirated books, the bookstore staff showed us many different evidences. For example, the book "Learning Fine Arts for Grade 4" (based on competency orientation) published by the Vietnam Education Publishing House and the fake textbooks look very similar in color, images and content. However, looking closely, there is a difference: the real book has smooth printed paper while the fake 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 2 Exercise Book", it is difficult to distinguish between the real and fake books with the naked eye. But 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 remove it and the stamp will come 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 can distinguish them with the naked eye if they are observant. Particularly, with fake textbooks, they 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 they sell 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 - an 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 inspection team representative also said that buyers can easily distinguish them using 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 it is a fake book, just shine a flashlight on it 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 detecting, checking and handling them is 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 come across 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 currently 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 book stores 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 the authorities."

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

In reality, businesses have many ways to circumvent the law, such as displaying only a small quantity in stores and hiding the rest until customers buy them. Meanwhile, the functional inspection team does not have the authority to inspect private places. Or, instead of keeping books in warehouses as before, now the publishers will transfer them directly when the store needs them, so in many cases, when the inspection team comes, they cannot detect fake or pirated books.

Since the beginning of summer, through inspections, the Nghe An province's interdisciplinary inspection team has seized 500 copies of pirated and fake books and fined 5 stores a total of 39 million VND in the districts of Do Luong, Tan Ky, Dien Chau, and Vinh city. Most of the pirated books discovered were mainly imported from the People's 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 branches 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.