Chinese Counterfeits, Fakes & Knock-Offs

[GeneChing]

With Beijing's Red Alert for smog, naturally the counterfeiters would take advantage.

Amid China’s Smog Worries, One More: Counterfeit Masks
点击查看本文中文版 Read in Chinese Sinosphere
By VANESSA PIAO DEC. 10, 2015


People in Beijing wearing face masks on Wednesday. Such masks have become an increasingly common sight in China in recent years. Credit Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

BEIJING — As pollution darkened the skies above northern China this week, and Beijing declared its first red alert over the capital’s air quality, the state-run news media gave anxious readers one more reason to worry about going outdoors.

The customs authorities in Shanghai have seized nearly 120,000 counterfeit surgical masks, the official China News Service reported on Thursday. Such masks have become an increasingly common sight in China in recent years, with more people wearing them in an effort to protect themselves from pollution.

Although the China News Service report suggested that the counterfeit masks, seized in two separate raids, had been intended for export, Chinese social media was abuzz with skepticism, and many wondered whether their own masks were authentic.

“I only hope they’re not making a tour in the free-trade zone and then coming back in as imports,” one person wrote online about the counterfeits.

“I feel I’m not poisoned to death by the smog, but am choked to death by the smell of the mask,” another person wrote on the Weibo microblogging platform. “Is it fake?”

The report said that the masks seized in Shanghai — which bore the logo of the American company 3M, the manufacturer of one of the most popular models of masks in China — were made with inferior materials and that they would offer no protection from air pollution. In fact, the report said the masks would actually pose an added threat to the health of those who wore them, though it did not explain how.

“The greatest risk from a fake mask is that people will be outside feeling protected but actually breathing in much more pollution than they’re aware of,” said Dr. Richard Saint Cyr, a physician in Beijing whose health blog is popular among expatriates.

He said he believed 3M masks — real ones, that is — were indeed beneficial. “There’s a lot of published research which shows that a well-designed mask can greatly decrease your inhaled intake of PM 2.5,” he said, referring to a particularly dangerous category of pollutant.

Xinhua, the state news agency, reported this week that searches for masks and air purifiers on the e-commerce site Alibaba had soared, and that many sellers were running out of stock.

[bawang]

whats with all this bad china newsman

the only other people i know who are obsessed with bad china news are english teachers on reddit and shanghaist

[GeneChing]

This article doesn't specify that these are from China, but I saw another one that did. I mean really, where else would they be from?

May the frauds be with you: Hilariously named fake Star Wars toys including 'Toby-One' Kenobi sent to shop in Bournemouth
Karl Baxter ordered a set of Star Wars toys to coincide with the new film
But when the merchandise arrived they turned out to be terrible bootlegs
Characters were given incorrect names like 'Toby-One' and 'R2-3PO'
By HUGO GYE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 11:01 EST, 10 December 2015 | UPDATED: 13:32 EST, 10 December 2015

When wholesale trader Karl Baxter ordered a discount batch of Star Wars toys just in time for the new film, he was excited to have a new stock of merchandise to cash in on the sci-fi frenzy.
But when they arrived, he realised that not only were they fakes, they appeared to have been designed by someone who had never seen or even heard of the films.
Nearly all the characters had laughably inaccurate labels, including 'Toby-One' Kenobi, 'R2-3PO' and 'Daft Serious'.



Blunders: These fake Star Wars figures were delivered to a firm in Bournemouth; Obi-Wan Kenobi became Toby-One and a badly painted C-3PO became R2-3PO



Blunders: Anakin Skywalker was dismissed as simply Little Girl while Liam Neeson's character Qui-Gon Jinn became Fly-Gone-Gin



Lazy: Padmé Amidala, played by Natalie Portman, is called just Queen, while villainous Darth Maul is somehow rendered as Dennis
In addition, they had wonky eyes, poor moulding and garish colour choices which made some of them almost unrecognisable.
Mr Baxter's company, Poole-based Wholesale Clearance UK Ltd, now has piles of boxes of the bootleg merchandise, all relating to 1999's The Phantom Menace, which it is unable to sell.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

'We acquired this stock in a bulk lot, and as a big Star Wars fan myself I had high hopes for these figures, especially considering how popular they are with children and collectors alike,' he said.
'The first disappointment came when we realised they were exclusively Episode One characters, as this is arguably the weakest of the six films.
'The second disappointment came when we realised that these were very unconvincing fakes.



Typos: Jedi warrior Mace Windu is rendered as Mace Window, and junk dealer Watto is called What



Seeing double: Senator Palpatine is portrayed twice, once as Glorious Star Lord and again in his Darth Sidious guise as Emperor Daft Serious



Say what you see: Jedi character Ki-Adi-Mundi is renamed Conehead, while Boss Nass is referred to as Upright Slug


Line-up: As well as being misnamed, many of the characters are almost unrecognisable

'While they do look somewhat like the characters they're supposed to portray, little details like their wonky eyes and luminous weapons take them into "uncanny valley" levels of uncomfortableness when you look at them.
'We obviously can't sell these, but as they're rather amusing we thought we'd still showcase them. It's just a shame we've got so many boxes of them piled up at the back of the warehouse.'
Other terrible blunders on the label include 'Fly-Gone-Jin' for Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn and 'Mace Window' for Samuel L. Jackson's character Mace Windu.
The figure of Anakin Skywalker is captioned as 'Little Girl', while villainous Darth Maul has been redubbed simply 'Dennis'.

These are almost more collectible than the real thing.

[GeneChing]

LOOK: Fall makes early return to Shenyang as workers tie fake autumn leaves onto bare trees



With depressing amounts of smog continually hanging over northern China this winter season, officials in Shenyang appear to be looking to turn back the clock, livening things back up with some fake autumnal foliage.



Yesterday, workers were spotted across the downtown area tying on plastic leaves to once bare trees as part of a citywide winter beautification effort.



This actually isn't the first time that Shenyang officials have tried this tactic to add some color to their city, in November 2013 Shenyang made headlines by decorating the city's trees with green leaves for a very early Spring that managed only to confuse residents. They may have to go to more extreme measures this time, we're talking adjusting calendars and coming up with some fresh pumpkins.



Apart from manufacturing seasonal scenery, the ancient city of Shenyang is also known for its rather direct methods of promotion, suffocating smog, exhilarating orange wars and as the home of the world's best taxi driver.



Plan a trip to see them now before they degrade in the air and are gone!
[Images via NetEase]
Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Alex Linder in News on Dec 16, 2015 9:30 PM

I wonder how much it costs for Shenyang to do this.

[GeneChing]

...but real prostitutes...

Sex workers pretending to be celebrities online apprehended in Shenzhen



Shenzhen police recently cracked down on an impressive sex racket of prostitutes masquerading as made-up celebrities with the help of such social media platforms as Weibo and WeChat.
According to CCTV, a local criminal gang set up a prostitution hub online, creating elaborately forged identities for its sex workers in order to rake in the dough.



One such woman was posing as a Las Vegas beauty pageant winner and internationally-known model named Qiao Shengyi, with a whole host of completely fabricated news articles and photoshoots to her name.



Some of the girls even paid hundreds of thousands of RMB to receive plastic surgery in South Korea for the sake of betterbusiness. And this was on top of the 2,000 to 30,000 yuan startup cost of funding the identity hoaxes.




However, if this gang was truly clever, they would joined forces with that Hunan gang known for mixing up their own batches of homemade Viagra. It's just simple economics.
By Pinky Latt
[Images via CCTV]

[boxerbilly]

Well Viagra loses its patient rights in China this year I believe. Cheaper generics hitting the drug store may kill the counterfeit trade. Probably not but they will take a huge hit.

[GeneChing]

It figures.

Spam Trail Leads to China’s Three Largest Banks

A researcher made 300 purchases of fake luxury goods online and found that 97 percent were handled by China’s largest three banks.

by Tom Simonite January 29, 2016

An academic’s investigation into the underpinnings of the fake luxury goods spam that pollutes in-boxes, social networks, and search results sheds new light on the economics of online crime—and implicates some of the largest banks in the world.

Fake luxury goods stand alongside pharmaceuticals as one of the primary drivers of spam. Damon McCoy, an assistant professor of computer science at New York University, is mapping out and attacking the economic system behind it. And he says the trail leads to the doors of China’s three largest banks.

McCoy’s project is a collaboration with Florida attorney Stephen Gaffigan and four of the world’s largest luxury goods brands—which decline to be named. The Bank of China, the Bank of Communications, and Agricultural Bank of China handled 97 percent of 300 fake goods purchases made during McCoy’s project, which has been running for nearly 18 months. All three are owned by the Chinese government.

McCoy initially found that the Korea Exchange Bank handled a significant fraction of the luxury goods purchases. But after his work triggered complaints from the credit-card network Visa, the bank stopped handling the transactions for the perpetrators. Despite being subject to similar complaints—and likely fines—the Chinese banks have not. “The banks in China are not doing anything,” says McCoy. He discussed his findings at the Enigma computer security conference in San Francisco this week.

All three banks have been accused, in lawsuits from luxury brands and by anti-counterfeiting organizations, of being important to the counterfeiting trade before. The Bank of China this month turned over customer records requested by Gucci and other brands in a court case over fakes. But McCoy’s study draws a direct link between online spam and the banks and suggests that the three have a virtual monopoly on receiving payments made for fakes online. None of the Chinese banks named by McCoy responded to a request for comment.

McCoy’s campaign is inspired by a landmark 2011 study he worked on regarding the economics of spam. It found that 95 percent of the income generated by spam passed through just three banks in Azerbaijan, Denmark, and Nevis in the West Indies (see “Anatomy of a Spam Viagra Purchase”).

The effort against the fake goods trade is aimed at identifying similar economic bottlenecks and choking them off. McCoy targets the crucial step that makes spamming worthwhile—when a customer makes a payment with a credit card and the money lands in a bank account controlled by the counterfeiter.

Fake goods are sold using spam in the form of e-mails and social network posts (the iMessage and WhatsApp messaging services have been targeted heavily). Criminals also hack websites to set up virtual storefronts that rank highly in search results.

McCoy has built software that clusters together fake-goods spam coming from the same source and identifies the payments processor it uses. He then exploits Visa’s anti-fraud rules to hit the spam generators where it hurts. If a fake-goods transaction is reported, a card network can levy escalating fines on the bank that received the money.

McCoy says he has evidence he’s hurting the counterfeiters. Visa’s complaints to the big three Chinese banks have caused counterfeiters to lose their bank accounts, even if the banks appear to be allowing them to switch to new ones. And payments processors serving counterfeiters have tried to filter out purchases made through his project using increasingly restrictive rules that appear to prevent many legitimate purchases.

“We’ve definitely hurt them; this is having an effect on their sales,” says McCoy. He and his collaborators are committed to continuing their project. That might choke off spam at the source instead of just hiding it, as more conventional measures such as spam filters do, especially if the big Chinese banks coӧperate more, he says. “The hope is that if you remove the money incentive to send spam e-mails or post spam to social networks, this will prevent spam.”

The damage to the counterfeit industry could be long-lasting. Switching credit-card processors comes with high costs, and there are relatively few to choose from, says Tyler Moore, an assistant professor of cybersecurity and information assurance at the University of Tulsa. And counterfeiters have to centralize for efficiency reasons. “Miscreants often scale up in the same manner that any other tech company would, placing their infrastructure at a single hosting provider or processing payments at one acquiring bank,” he says.

[GeneChing]

A simple 'knock off' case or the PRC trying to undermine the American military?

The U.S. is its own worst enemy. Case in point, all of the merch for Superbowl 50, the biggest U.S. commercial enterprise of them all, was made in China.

Chinese man arrested for selling ‘knock-off’ eye protection to military and police
By Michael Swaney|February 9th, 2016|Military News


Revision Desert Locust Goggles (left) and Daniel Gong just before being arrested at a Colorado trade show (right).

A Chinese business man has been arrested by the Denver Police Department after a sting operation uncovered the man was selling inferior products used by the US military and police officers.

Daniel Gong was caught at a Colorado trade show after the Denver PD’s fugitive team successfully identified him.

Gong is accused of selling “knock-off’ Revision Locust Military Goggle systems that are being manufactured in China.

The actual Revision eyewear are manufactured in a 52,000 square foot facility in Essex Junction, Vermont.

Revision boasts, “In the age of outsourcing, Revision is insourcing—bringing its mission critical lens manufacturing capability in house.”

In addition to having military and government contracts they also offer a 30% discount to military and law enforcement personnel who purchase their eyewear products independently.

According to news3lv, the sting operation used an undercover company set up by Dearborn County, Indiana prosecutor, Aaron Negangard and an Indianapolis private investigator to order and test the fake Revision googles.

The investigation determined that the goggles did not meet a single standard for ballistic quality.

Negangard said, “One thing that bothers us is they’re putting people who protect us in jeopardy while selling an inferior product.”

Gong and his company co-owners are charged with six felonies which include counterfeiting, corrupt business practices and theft.

[GeneChing]

Fake Chinese honey is being sold in Denmark
Wednesday February 17, 2016 12:43PM ET


HoneySamples taken by the food authority Fødevarestyrelsen have revealed that large quantities of fake Chinese honey are being sold in Danish supermarkets.

Danish food distributor Scandic Food has imported 50 tonnes of the fake honey and sold it to Danish supermarkets such as Netto, Føtex, Bilka, Kiwi, Many and Spar, CPH Post Online reports.

“There are no health-related issues in regards to this situation,” Michael Rosenmark, the head of Fødevarestyrelsen’s mobile unit, told Berlingske Business.

“But businesses, which somewhere along the line added sugar to the honey, have profited greatly from doing so.”

The drama started in October 2015 when Fødevarestyrelsen turned up at the Scandic Food warehouse in Vejle and took samples from five types of honey.

The samples were then sent to the EU Commission’s accredited expert laboratory in France, which tested the samples and found in January that 80 percent were not honey at all, but rather a fake product that only resembled real honey.

Meanwhile, Scandic Food has refuted Fødevarestyrelsen’s conclusion, claiming the test used on the samples was not valid. The company has complained about the decision to the Food Ministry. ■

This reminds me of U.S. pancake syrup, which is basically fake maple syrup.

[GeneChing]

How much cloth can you make from rat fur exactly? Seems like that would be more work than it's worth, unless you got some really fat rats.

Is your sweater REALLY 100% cashmere? Chinese factories are accused of blending goat's wool with rat's fur and other cheaper fabrics

Luxury cashmere jumpers may contain alternative - cheaper - materials
Campaigners claim goat's wool and rat's fur are being blended together
Edinburgh Woollen Mill facing court over claims it mislabelled scarves
Retailer denies the allegations and will be vigorously defending the case

By SEAN POULTER, CONSUMER AFFAIRS EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 09:50 EST, 21 February 2016 | UPDATED: 20:43 EST, 21 February 2016


Campaigners, including former TV presenter Selina Scott (pictured), warn that luxury cashmere jumpers are being made with a mixture of cheaper materials

Luxury cashmere jumpers may not be what they seem with evidence of fraud and fakery.
Cheap alternative materials - even rat fur in one case - are being woven into garments, according to campaigners including former TV presenter Selina Scott.
One famous name producer, the Edinburgh Woollen Mill, will be taken to court this week following allegations that it mislabelled scarves as '100 per cent cashmere'.
Trading standards chiefs claim the products were actually a mix of cashmere and other materials.
The company denies the allegations and has made clear it will vigorously defend the case.
However, supporters of cashmere goat farmers in China and Mongolia, say their efforts and industry are being undermined by fraud and mislabelling.
Selina Scott investigated the industry ahead of the launch of her own ethical cashmere collection and believes the problem is widespread.
Miss Scott said: 'It's an absolute scam. It is a well-recognised fact in the industry that parts of the cashmere trade have been corrupted.'
She said she had no faith whatsoever that cheap cashmere was genuine and said the fraudulent trade undermined the livelihoods of goat herders in Mongolia, because of a fall in demand for high-quality cashmere.
'The industry has been involved in a race to drive down prices,' she said.
It was reported two years ago that a million items of cashmere clothing seized from Chinese-run firms in Rome were found to be a mixture of acrylic, viscose and fur from rats and other animals.
Global cashmere production is about 7.5million kilograms, however sales of products carrying the name are much higher.
Malcolm Campbell, managing director of the Cloth of Kings in Fife, who has worked for more than four decades in the textile industry, said: 'There are not enough cashmere goats in the world to produce the amount of cashmere that is on sale.
'The more basic cheaters will use acrylic or polyester in the blend. A lot of the blends will have 50per cent or 60per cent cashmere and 50per cent or 40per cent modified sheep or yak wool. It is very difficult to check.


Luxury cashmere jumpers may not be what they seem with evidence of cheap, alternative materials - even rat fur in one case - being woven into garments at Chinese-run factories, campaigners are claiming (file picture)

'Much of the cashmere that is on sale and sold as 100% cashmere has a percentage of modified wool.'
Mr Campbell, who has travelled to cashmere factories in China, said the factories used a wool stretching machine, which can be used to make finer wool fibres. These are then blended with cashmere, which is sold as '100per cent cashmere'.
Karl Spilhaus, president of the Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturers Institute (CCMI), which represents cashmere producers and conducts worldwide testing on cashmere garments, told the Sunday Times there was a particular lower-priced wovens, such as jackets, coats and scarves.
He said: 'There is a significant problem on the British high street. We have tested many products and found a significant amount of mislabelling.'
The CCMI has previously complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about Edinburgh Woollen Mill, claiming its 'pure cashmere' scarves are not 100per cent cashmere. The complaint was not upheld after the retailers provided tests results showing the products as authentic.
In a statement, Edinburgh Woollen Mill said: 'We strongly refute these claims and will continue to vigorously defend them.
'The cashmere products sold by the Edinburgh Woollen Mill are subject to robust independent testing by experts in the fibre-testing field. Furthermore we conduct regular supplier audits designed to ensure the highest standards of product authenticity throughout our business.'


It was reported two years ago that a million items of cashmere clothing seized from Chinese-run firms in Rome were found to be a mixture of acrylic, viscose and fur from rats and other animals (file picture)

[GeneChing]

...save a life. You gotta feel for this guy, though.

Suicidal Chinese Man Avoids Death After Consuming 200 Fake Sleeping Pills
By Frank Fang, Epoch Times | March 1, 2016 Last Updated: March 1, 2016 2:30 pm


Health workers prepare to destroy fake medicines seized in Beijing on March 14, 2013. A man in Shandong survives after taking 200 fake sleeping pills. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Counterfeit goods from China have dismayed many a buyer for a long time, but in one case recently, they’ve proved to be an accidental life-saver.



On Feb. 29, the friend of a man named Ye from the city of Qingdao in Shandong Province called the police to inform them that Ye had attempted suicide by swallowing sleeping pills, according to Hong Kong tabloid Apple Daily. The police found Ye in a motel sleeping with two empty bottles of sleeping pills besides him, and immediately called an ambulance.

According to footage from local news station, when a police officer called for Ye to wake up and gave him a nudge, the young man suddenly sat up quickly and muttered: “All right, I’m not sleeping anymore.” Ye even lit up a cigarette, and puffed away as if nothing had happened.

What’s unique about fake drugs is that those who really want to die cannot die, and those who want to live cannot live.

Doctors at the hospital later determined that the sleeping pills Ye consumed were fakes. Ye, a 28-year-old from Shaoxing City in the east China province of Zhejiang, later explained that he brought the pills online for 50 yuan (about $7), and journeyed north to Qingdao to kill himself after getting into a heated argument with his family back home.

On Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, some netizens wondered if the online seller should get good or bad reviews.

“I thought the fake drugs only cause harm to people. Now these fakes are saving people, wrote a netizen Guangdong. Another netizen, “woo253,” wrote “Fake drugs are everywhere in China.”

“What’s unique about fake drugs is that those who really want to die cannot die, and those who want to live cannot live,” wrote a netizen using the moniker “k5co6plci8.”

This is not the first time this year that an attempt at suicide in China was thwarted by fake drugs. In Jiangsu Province, a man by the name of Wang Kai survived after taking nine pills of potassium cyanide in an suicide attempt, reported the state-run Xinhua News Agency in January. Potassium cyanide is extremely toxic and small amounts are lethal, but as it turns out, the pills Wang Kai took were also counterfeits.

[GeneChing]

I can't wrap my head around this right now, not with Easter Cadbury eggs right around the corner...

We've posted on these before.

Watch: How China Makes Chemical-Laced Artificial Eggs
By Juliet Song, Epoch Times | February 11, 2016 Last Updated: February 13, 2016 9:23 am


(Sina Weibo)

If there’s anything that can put Chinese chickens out of work, it’s the man-made eggs that have been plaguing consumers for over a decade.

Since 2003, Chinese workers have been able to replicate chicken eggs to a surprising degree of detail. The shell is made of shaped calcium carbonate, reported the Beijing Media Network. Other ingredients include starch, resin, and cellulose coagulants for the egg white, and edible pigment additives for the yolk.



Countless pictures of the fakes have appeared on Chinese social media throughout the years. Lured by low prices, shoppers all over China have reported unwittingly buying the eggs, only to find that the yolk becomes hard and rubbery once cooked; one internet post said the yolks bounced when thrown on the floor.


(Sina Weibo)


(Sina Weibo)


(Sina Weibo)


(Sina Weibo)

Manmade eggs still infest Chinese supermarkets.

“Finally I have encountered the legendary fake eggs,” a January online post reads. “Before, I might choke on the yolk, but that won’t happen now because I can’t even chew it.”

Consuming the fake eggs can lead to memory degeneration and Alzheimer’s disease.

Fake eggs are extremely cheap to manufacture—a batch of ten costs just two cents.

In 2011, Qilu Evening News, a regional newspaper in Shandong Province, published an investigative report into the method of production. According to Mr. Ren, a 10-year veteran in the industry, the most important part of the process lies in producing the eggshell. Even if the insides are botched slightly, a good shell will fool most shoppers.

“I am the only one in China who can make a good eggshell,” Ren boasted.


(Qilu Evening News)


(Qilu Evening News)


(Qilu Evening News)


(Qilu Evening News)

The eggshell is created in a mould; stirring the calcium mixture and applying it evenly is crucial in creating a convincing fake. In ten minutes, the egg is complete.

To reduce the strong chemical smell given off by the compounds that comprise the whites and yolk, the eggs are treated with aquarium water to recreate an authentic odor. For added effect, traces of chicken droppings can be placed on the eggs.

In 2009, Japan’s FujiTV produced an 8-minute report on China’s fake eggs. The TV station even reproduced the process.


It costs $120 for egg-making lessons with Mr. Ren.

Ren said he was on good terms with chicken farms and egg sellers. “I openly tell the farm directors that my manmade eggs are far cheaper. Who doesn’t want to make more money? I have business relationships with them.”

“From the farm to the wholesalers to the retailers, they all know it,” Ren claimed. “Only customers don’t.”

[GeneChing]

There must be a special place in hell for those that take advantage of babies like this.

China detains sellers of fake baby formula
Date 05.04.2016
Author Darko Janjevic (with AFP, dpa)

Shanghai authorities have launched a probe into six people accused of making a cheap infant formula, and then repackaging it to look like famous brands. The suspected gang reportedly sold over 17,000 mislabeled cans.



The group has been selling the counterfeit product across seven provinces in China, marketing it as the popular US brand "Similac," Shanghai officials said.
All of the dodgy goods had been traced and seized by the end of last year, the producer of "Similac," Abbot US, said in an online statement on Tuesday.
The Chinese authorities said that the mixture posed no safety risk.
According to the state media, the suspects used the same repackaging system to trade adult milk powder, selling over 17,000 tins in total. The group reportedly made nearly 2 million yuan ($309,000 or 272,000 euro) by peddling to retailers across China.

Death by melamine

This is only the latest in the series of scandals involving food safety in the world's most populous nation. Last month, a Chinese court sentenced ten people to prison terms for selling fake beef jerky. The gang used flavoring and pigment to make pork appear more like beef, according to the officials Xinhua agency.
In a widely publicized scandal in 2008, six infants died and hundreds of thousands fell ill after consuming tainted milk powder and other dairy products. A number of companies were found to be selling watered-down milk with added melamine, an industrial chemical, to boost protein levels.
The chemical caused kidney stones and renal failure, harming mostly young children.
Two men were executed and four others sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in the production process.

[-N-]

There must be a special place in hell for those that take advantage of babies like this.

People should check the labels more closely.

It's Simi-Similac, fake fake milk.