Author: adminficci

Computers with counterfeit software cannot be protected

For every 10 computers in Thailand, eight are running counterfeit software infected with malware, according to Microsoft Southeast Asia. “Many people assume that buying a name brand PC guarantees protection from malicious software. But consumers need to beware that if they cannot verify that the computer they purchased shipped with a genuine copy of Windows software, they are potentially opening themselves up to significant risk,” Vipul Sant, director of Microsoft Asia-Pacific’s Genuine Software Initiative, said last week. The company studied name brand PCs with pirated software installed, as well as counterfeit software DVDs, from five countries in Southeast Asia – Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. About 70 per cent of the pirated DVDs and 84 per cent of the hard drives tested in Thailand were infected with malicious software. This is higher than the average malware infection rate of 69 per cent across the region. In 35 per cent of PCs examined from Thailand, the original hard-drive was replaced by a counterfeit hard-disk drive. On average for the region, hard-drive swapping was apparent on 28 per cent of the examined PCs. Vipul said at a press briefing in Bangkok that infected operating systems could seriously harm the performance of a PC and put personal data, such as contact details or bank data, at the risk of being exposed by hackers or criminals. “Customers deserve a name-brand experience, not a computer that crashes or is compromised in some way. This is why Microsoft is committed to educating the retailers, resellers and consumers on the benefits of using genuine software.” With Windows Update disabled, computer systems bypass genuine software checks and are also denied access to critical security updates, leaving them defenceless against malicious cyber-attacks, virus infections and hacking. Microsoft’s testing revealed 1,131 unique strains of malware and virus infections in its Southeast Asia sample including the highly dangerous “Zeus” Trojan. Zeus is a password-stealing trojan known to use “keylogging” and other mechanisms to monitor people’s online activity. Keyloggers record a user’s every keystroke in order to steal personal information, including account usernames and passwords. Criminals use this information to steal victims’ identities and access other private accounts. According to the RSA 2012 Cybercrime Trends Report, Zeus is estimated to have caused over US$1 billion in global losses in the last five years. The 2012 Norton Cybercrime Report shows that the global consumer cost of cybercrime is $100 billion annually, with an average per-victim impact of $197. Ian Guy Gillard, an executive vice president of Bangkok Bank, said using a computer infected with any malware, particularly a Trojan virus, is especially dangerous for online banking users. Hackers can gain full control of the computer and, in some circumstances, may withdraw money from customers’ bank accounts and make online purchases. This can happen on all computer platforms, including PC and mobile platforms. “In order to minimise the risk of being infected, we recommend our customers to take a few safety measures as detailed in our ‘Be SAFE online’ programme, including the use of genuine software only. Customers are responsible for ensuring the safety of the computers they use to access our services. That is why we support Microsoft in their positive outreach to educate consumers and businesses about the importance of using genuine software only,” he said. Chainarong Charoenchainao, deputy commander of the Economic Crime Division, said the division is in line with the National Police’s continuous actions to crack down on the use and sale of illegal software. Cybercriminals use malware for a range of invasive activities generating illegal profit from stealing consumers’ banking and credit card information to spamming their email and social media contacts with fraudulent requests for charitable donations or bogus offers such as for counterfeit prescription drugs. For businesses, the risks associated with using malware-infected, pirated software include low IT productivity, critical system failures and disruptions of service, and theft of confidential company data leading to severe financial loss and reputational harm.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/technology/Computers-with-counterfeit-software-cannot-be-prot-30201264.html

Biometric certificates to help track Ayurveda, Unani quacks

The Karnataka Ayurveda and Unani Practitioners Board has decided to distribute biometric registration certificates to doctors of these systems of medicine in a bid to crack down on quacks. The Board estimates the number of fake doctors in the State at more than one lakh. The Board, which came into existence in 1965, has so far distributed manual certificates to 33,000 doctors and they will soon get biometric ones. Distributing smart cards with biometric registration will help check the increasing number of fake doctors, say Board officials. The manual certificates, which had the doctor’s photo affixed, made it easy to duplicate them by replacing the photos. There is a huge racket operating in the State, selling fake certificates at Rs three lakh to Rs five lakh each.Fingerprints and digital signatures of doctors enrolling themselves with the Board are taken and their marks cards scanned. The doctors’ pictures are taken with the help of the computers. All documents are then barcoded. The certificates that are then generated will have a unique registration number, hologram, microprint, water mark logo , invisible logo, designed border and 2 D barcode. Kiran Kumar, Managing Director of the V Works Software, Bangalore, has developed the necessary software, at a cost of Rs five lakh. Doctors can get the barcoded certificates online also, through the website: www.kaupboard.karnataka.gov.in. The barcoded certificates can be got even on mobile phones which have internet connection. This will make it easy to crosscheck for fake ones. Board chairperson Dr Satyamurthy Bhat told Deccan Herald that they had taken such an initiative for the first time in the country, something that neither the Indian Medical Council nor the Karnataka Medical Council has done. Once the project is over, the Board will start raiding the clinics of fake doctors, he said.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/316112/biometric-certificates-help-track-ayurveda.html

Millions in counterfeit luxury goods recovered, six arrested

Atlanta police arrested six men accused of selling about $5 million in counterfeit goods at a local market. The men had individual shops at the West End Market on Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard, and police recovered items mimicking brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, Michael Kors, Nike, True Religion and Air Jordans. Stacie Gibbs, with the Atlanta Police Department, said officers made arrests on Friday afternoon. “We had complaints from citizens and people in the neighborhood about the amount of counterfeit products that were being sold out of here,” Gibbs said. “So, we had our own Atlanta police officers come in here. There were some undercover purchases made of illegal, counterfeit items.” Police arrested Aliou Diallo, Samba Ba, Bockarie Jalloh, Mohamed Diallo, Macky Traore and Asdo Chukwu. Most of them were charged with selling forged or counterfeited items. Mohamed Diallo was charged with reproduction of recorded material. They were all still in the Fulton County Jail as of Saturday. Gibbs said representatives from the various brands that were allegedly counterfeited came to verify whether or not the goods were actually fake. “It’s important to remember that all of these items are being sold legitimately throughout Atlanta,” Gibbs said. “This takes away from businesses that are selling legitimate items and doing things that they are supposed to.”

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/21445728/millions-in-counterfeit-luxury-goods-recovered-six-arrested

Sold fake Tiffany jewelry, Ottawa woman sent to prison for three years

A woman who sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit Tiffany & Co. jewellery was sentenced to nearly three years in prison Friday. Debbie Craddock, 44, passed off the cheap replica jewellery she bought from China as the real thing, promising customers it was authentic but with minor imperfections. Craddock would buy the jewellery for between $4 and $15 a piece. She’d then sell it at home parties for between $75 and $120 each, being sure to package it in the Rhode Island-based company’s trademark little blue box. Craddock would also make her own certificates of authenticity when anyone asked for proof. Real Tiffany and Co. jewellery could sell for hundreds more. The only authorized seller of the jewellery in Canada is Holt Renfrew. The total scope of her sales wasn’t known, although 1,300 customers who paid with cheques spent $316,000 alone. Many more paid with cash and credit cards. Craddock, who had been selling the fake jewellery for six years, spent only $109,574.94 buying it, court heard. However, she persuaded her Chinese suppliers to claim she paid only $8,576.62 for the jewellery so she could avoid or reduce the amount she had to pay in duties. Craddock pleaded guilty to fraud over $5,000, possession of the proceeds of crime, copyright infringement and smuggling the jewellery into Canada without paying duty under the Customs Act. Her lawyer, Michael Crystal, suggested Craddock was “wilfully blind” to the fact that the items were fake, but federal prosecutor Robert Zsigo noted she admitted to buying them from a Chinese supplier named “replicaworld.” Zsigo said when some of the customers challenged Craddock and her staff about the authenticity, they were assured the items were made in the United States and just had slight defects. ntario Superior Court Justice Julianne Parfett questioned whether customers should have wondered why they were getting such a deal. “One would have thought that might have been their first clue,” she said. “If you are talking about people who are wilfully blind, we’re talking about her customers,” added Parfett. Parfett sentenced Craddock, who wore a Harley Davidson zip-up top and wiped away tears in the prisoner’s box before the plea, to 34 months and 12 days in jail. Zsigo said at the time of the Tiffany’s scam, Craddock collected $29,000 in welfare payments along with a GST credit and child tax benefit, all of which she was not entitled to. “You made a considerable amount of money persuading people they were buying seconds of Tiffany jewellery when it really wasn’t Tiffany jewellery at all,” Parfett told Craddock. Craddock, who has already spent more than six months in jail, pleaded guilty in front of a second judge Friday to credit card fraud and two counts of breaching her release conditions, including using the Internet and handling money without RCMP permission. She was sentenced to time served for those offences. Craddock’s common law husband, Sean Craddock, who was once charged himself but has since had the charges dropped, said he believes his wife is truly sorry for what she has done.

FBR launches crackdown against counterfeit cigarettes

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has launched countrywide crackdown against non-duty paid / counterfeit cigarettes and seized 200,000 illegal cigarettes in a single day, sources said. On the special instructions of Ali Arshad Hakeem, chairman of the revenue body, the Directorate Intelligence & Investigation Inland Revenue launched operation against illicit trade of cigarettes at a time when the board is considering various options to revise tax structure on legal brands in order to generate additional revenues of Rs10 billion. The legal tobacco industry had paid Rs69 billion in the national exchequer during the last financial year and now the revenue body is expecting to increase taxation on cigarettes, keeping in view the crunch on revenue collection side. Although, action against non-duty paid cigarettes fall under the jurisdiction of the Customs Intelligence, the FBR chairman instructed the I&I IR to launch operation in all parts of the country. Official documents revealed that smugglers have allegedly opened fire on a mobile team of the FBR on Ring Road Peshawar on Thursday. The mobile team was on surveillance at the Ring Road Peshawar where they tried to stop a vehicle suspected of carrying cigarettes, it said. Smugglers entered in altercation with the team and a scuffle broke out. According to the FBR, the alleged smugglers asked the FBR officials to stop searching vehicles and threatened them with dire consequences. “These people were led by Shafqat Ali son of Haji Mohammad who is a known smuggler of non-duty paid foreign origin cigarettes,” the FBR’s report said. The FBR officials informed the chairman that these vehicles had crossed a number of check-posts of various road surveillance agencies, including policeman. “These smugglers have the support of other provincial and federal government road surveillance agencies and this seems to be the reason for their violent behaviour,” the officials said. “Now the FBR chairman has decided to take up the issue with the chief secretary and IG police of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” a senior FBR official said. The FBR has so far seized 2.5 million cigarettes during the last three months.

Tax agency launches probe into fake oil makers, distributors

South Korea’s tax agency said Wednesday that it has launched an investigation into 66 individuals on suspicions that they are involved in evading taxes by making and distributing illegal fake oil products. The individuals under the probe by the National Tax Service (NTS) are suspected of making and distributing unauthorized oil products by mixing gasoline or diesel with much cheaper kerosene or solvents which are not subject to taxation. Unauthorized fake oil products have long been overtly sold by vendors near highways or gas stations. The government bans the products as they could threaten users’ safety and are highly unstable compared to authentic fuel products. “Through this investigation, we will trace down the money flows of those involved in the whole process from manufacturing to distributing such fake products by utilizing data provided by the Financial Intelligence Unit,” an NTS official said, referring to a financial data-collecting body of the government. If the tax evasion charges prove to be true, the tax agency said that it will collect unpaid taxes from them and ask the prosecution to conduct a criminal investigation of those involved. The tax probe is the first action taken by the new government of President Park Geun-hye against the so-called underground economy as it seeks to toughen its clampdown on tax evasion and broaden its revenue base. The underground economy refers to business and economic activities including many illegal transactions, which leaves the government unable to regulate and impose taxes. Park, who was sworn in on Monday, has said that she will beef up efforts to police the underground economy in a bid to secure money needed to fulfill her campaign pledges such as extended welfare programs. Fake oil is much cheaper than authentic gasoline and diesel products but experts worry that it could inflict damage on engines and threatening users’ safety. It is also criticized for emitting a larger amount of pollutants into the air. The government sets its sight on the fake oil market not just for such safety and environmental issues but also for its ever-growing size and ever-growing amount of evaded taxes. According to the Korea Petroleum Quality and Distribution, tax evasion taking place in the fake oil market is estimated at about 1 trillion won (US$919.1 million) every year. The government suspects that this money could flow into the underground economy where it can be used for many illegal activities.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2013/02/27/19/0502000000AEN20130227006300320F.HTML

Nearly 600 Counterfeit DVDs Seized

Nearly 600 counterfeit DVDs were seized in what police call an elaborate counterfeit operation in an Arlington home. Police stumbled on the alleged operation while serving Melbert Randles with a credit card fraud warrant. “It was a very big bust — one of the bigger ones we’ve come across in a long time,” Sgt. Steve Williams said. In addition to the DVDs, officers found DVD burners and computers in Randles’ home, police said. “What we gather is that movies are prereleased overseas oftentimes, and a lot of rganized crime groups will obtain copies of this and reproduce it to a digital copy and then sell it on the Internet,” Williams said. Williams said Randles likely planned to sell the counterfeits at flea markets out of his trunk while cruising parking lots at malls and shopping centers. He said it is a common practice for counterfeiters that can be tough to track. “They are pretty discrete,” Williams said. “They’re manufacturing the movies in their offices or their home and pretty much behind the scenes.” “The person selling it may not have any further ties than the sale of it, but it may be tied to a criminal organization, said Aaron Aguilar . We’re seeing more organized crime groups becoming involved in counterfeiting products,” said Aaron Aguilar, a Recording Industry Association of America investigator. Aguilar said this side of the industry is not often seen by unsuspecting consumers. “It’s a market that may seem harmless but, in fact, it may also be furthering the operations of organized crime,” he said. Aguilar also said that the effects of counterfeiting reach far beyond big music and film production companies. “It’s the industry as a whole,” he said. “CD plants that used to operate here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area 10 years ago, now there are only a few. Same thing with mom-and-pop stores, small record shops who are trying to sell legitimate products, but they have someone standing outside in the parking lot hawking a counterfeit product at a fraction of their price. It’s tough to compete.” More than 70,000 jobs and $12 billion in legitimate business in the music industry alone have been lost over the last decade, Aguilar said. “It’s a huge problem,” he said. Williams said the counterfeit goods are also a far cry from the real deal. “It’s going to be typically a substandard product, so the movie may cut out or there may be subtitles in a foreign language, so it’s always wise to buy from a reputable source,” Williams said. “You get what you pay for,” he said. Randles is now facing felony counterfeiting charges. The case has been turned over to the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office