New site to combat fakes

 

Brand-i is a shopping directory that aims to reduce the amount of counterfeit goods being purchased by consumers by providing a genuine list of stockists of their favourite brands. Powys County Council’s Trading Standards Service is signposting Powys consumers to Brand-i to help them spot legitimate supply chains.

 

Developed in partnership with the Trading Standards Institute, Brand-i was launched on World Anti-Counterfeiting Day (June 8) and the directory has a large amount of brands including UGG, GHD, Abercrombie and Fitch and Pandora, most of which are renowned for fakes.

 

Cllr Geraint Hopkins, Powys Cabinet Member for Environment and Regulation, said: “It is increasingly difficult to establish from search engine results which online stores are bona fide and sell genuine goods and which are illegal and fraudulent sites.

 

“Using a fraudulent site could mean you receive fake, unsafe, inferior quality products, don’t receive your items at all, or even suffer identity theft and credit card fraud. Fraudsters who create illegal sites are often very organised and practised at giving the impression their web-stores stock genuine ‘designer’ sunglasses, shoes, hair straighteners or fashion jewellery.

 

“The intention of Brand-i is to help you avoid selling counterfeit ‘branded’ products by providing a directory of online stores that can be trusted. You can trust the stockists listed in the Brand-i directory because the information has been provided with the consent of the brand holders themselves. By using this directory you will have the confidence to continue shopping for products you might not otherwise be sure about buying online.”

 

Clive Jones, the council’s Principal Trading Standards Officer with responsibility for Special Investigations, said: “We are receiving a number a reports regarding counterfeit goods, particularly concerning auction sites. Local businesses are complaining of lost sales and are threatened by closure due to increased counterfeiting activity.

 

“We support legitimate businesses and local tax payers by targeting illegal shadow economy activities such as product counterfeiting by individuals, who have little regard to the county’s traders and only seek to further destablise our economy. We will continue this work to support the intellectual property rights of our local businesses and the wider business community.”

 

For more information on Brand-i visit www.brand-i.org