The end sellers on the internet don’t even keep them in the house, they buy to order
Profits by the dozen
50% of counterfeit goods that invade the market and are sold online and in the commercial network enter our country without a logo, label or sticker. Only here they are stamped. And between 10 and 20 percent of fakes are even produced in the country, the GDBOP’s “Cybercrimes” department told “24 Chasa”.
Our market mainly includes jeans, blouses, glasses, perfumes, watches and sneakers. Smuggled goods most often come from Turkey and China. Recently, our southern neighbor has been preferred due to the common border. And the quality isn’t that bad, the anti-mafia say. And they point out that some of the brands have outsourced their production there due to cheaper labor. Fraudsters use it and also make mints.
Our border is relatively easy to cross. It may be through the cargo and the customs officials can’t check everything. When the goods arrive, there are two options. Either the mints are sold in the country, or we are hub for Western Europe. Some goods also arrived in Spain.
They advertise them through Facebook groups or websites, send them through couriers. Sometimes a simple black shirt comes and we just print the logo to make it easier to sell.
In the case of the speakers, for example, they enter Bulgaria with one box and the stickers with another. The pattern is the same with perfumes.
The profit is huge, with relatively low risk. It often happens that the penalties go through an administrative procedure if the scammers are not caught by the GDBOP. Along the chain, the cost increase for the end user is enormous. The manufacturer of fake jeans who sells them for 20 BGN wins once and the importer sells them for 50, for example. Then comes the wholesaler who stores them in a warehouse. Only then does it reach the final seller, regardless of whether it is in a physical store or an online trading platform.
Similar is the large-scale scheme halted in Ruse in December this year. A Turkish passenger transport company was used there. Together with them, counterfeit goods got into the baggage. The unloading took place near Ruse, some of the men remained there, others went to Sofia. This is followed by a new redistribution in the capital: one part remains in the country, the other goes abroad. Dietary supplements were often seized by the GDBOP.
Almost the same is the pattern of those who sew their own fakes.
“About 10-20 percent of the goods are produced in sewing workshops in the Haskovo region, Kardzhali, etc. We carried out operations and did some,” the anti-mafia explained. One of the actions is November 10 this year. Then the workshops in Targovishte, Razgrad and Harmanli were attacked. Sewing and stamping machines and equipment used in illegal production were seized, as well as numerous sportswear items bearing the trademarks of famous brands around the world.
“These are people with legal business. I cook quite decently. They also have presses. When business is not going well, they start putting logos of well-known companies. Thus, a sweatshirt for 20 levs is sold 7 times more expensive,” explains the anti-mafia. According to them, the final trade takes place on classifieds sites and company shops: the products are marketed as original.
Reports to the GDBOP often come late, only after burnt customers have reported to the Consumer Protection Commission. But a lot they knew they were buying mints and had no problem.
Thus, they achieved the effect of wearing a “branded” item or bag that costs a lot of money. The knockoffs were so good that only experts could tell them. And because of the flooding of the market with mints, women with originals also often suffered: everyone automatically decided that their bag was a replica too.
The same thing happened with watches. There was a change for thousands of levs. “If you’re going to pay that much for a fake, you better get a real one,” advises the anti-mafia. And they say one way to protect yourself when buying platforms online is to verify your profile.
“When someone sells an original product, he writes in the description that, for example, his jeans are small. And there are only 1-2 listings. Fraudsters post several pages of products they are selling. Well, anyone would be suspicious,” they say the policemen. And they explain that there are also online stores that boldly sell fakes. Therefore, to find your way around, you should spend at least an hour comparing prices.
“A pair of jeans cannot cost BGN 400 new in the mall outlet, but it can be sold for 200 online or in a physical store. It cannot possibly happen,” the criminologists point out.
Sometimes the scams are obvious. For example, a small additional element is placed on the logo. An examination is made and it is said that the user can be misled. Other times, retailers say they ordered 1 truckload of sneakers and didn’t know it had a logo.
The invoice just says “sneakers”, so the author apologizes for not knowing what they are. These very rarely go to court, because there are chats where a person clearly specifies what he wants. Images are also exchanged.
There are also cheaters who import small quantities. Only when they have an order for something big do they go get it. However they are held, they burn with goods entering a bus.
The most imaginative were the Internet marketers. They often don’t have the goods they sell. Only on request they go to withdraw a single unit from the warehouse. When the Ministry of the Interior receives a complaint against a certain person and responds, it turns out that there are no assets in his house.
In other cases, however, there are complaints against small shops. Behind them, the forensic experts came upon overflowing warehouses.
Over the next few days, it will become clear how many people bought mints over the holidays.
