Contraband tobacco trade up by 12% in India
High excise duty on cigarettes in India has resulted in the growth of contraband trade of the product with the total market estimated to reach Rs. 1,900 crore this year, up nearly 12% from the previous year, according to industry estimates. In 2010-11, the size of contraband cigarettes market in India was aroundRs. 1,700 crore.According to industry players, 17 billion cigarette sticks are smuggled into the country every year, making India the sixth highest consumer of smuggled cigarettes in the world.
Experts cited the huge price differential in India and neighbouring countries as one of the primary reasons for the increase in smuggling of cigarette in India.
Low cost cigarettes make their way to India from countries like China, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan, they said.
“Smuggled and contraband cigarettes are becoming a bigger and bigger problem in India. There are lot of illegal cigarettes, which are smuggled from outside India and even counterfeit products are also sold in huge quantity,” an official working with a cigarettes company said.The government needs to take serious action to control the illegal trade, he added.
The smuggled cigarettes of 80 mm size could still be cheaper than an authentic regular sized 70 mm filter cigarette in India. “This is a direct threat to the filter segment which constitutes 69% of the total Indian cigarette market,” the official said.
When asked about the factors behind the increase in illegal trade of the product, he said, “Extreme high excise duty and VAT rate on cigarettes in India make smuggling a particularly attractive proportion.”Citing an example, he said the total tax on a legitimate R100 pack is as high as R68, but as contraband cigarettes do not pay any of those taxes, they are priced at up to R80 and still allow a high margin.
According to the industry estimates, 60 million sticks are smuggled every month in Mumbai followed by 35 million sticks in Delhi and 20 million sticks per month in Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Lear MoreCounterfeit products target of website
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood is hoping a new website dedicated to fighting counterfeit merchandise will help the state chip away at an unlawful, billion-dollar industry.
The Mississippi Intellectual Property Crime Center was launched Monday. Hood says it’s the first statewide website where counterfeit sales activity can be reported.
People can report where potential counterfeit clothing, CDs, DVDs or other bogus items are being sold, view pictures of counterfeit goods and look at the state’s laws concerning intellectual-property theft and links to other organizations that combat knock-off items.
“This is a first-of-its-kind website,” Hood said while seated at a table strewn with bogus golf shirts, ball caps, handbags and a counterfeit iPod seized by state officials. “Instead of calling in, (people) can fill out a form online if they see a product they think is counterfeit.”
The form asks for the street address, city and zip code of counterfeit activity. Those who fill it out have the option to remain anonymous.
Hood says manufacturers are losing $250 billion in sales nationwide each year through the sale of counterfeits. He did not have state-specific figures.And the goods can pose great safety hazards, he said, noting a woman in Tupelo who suffered a damaged retina after buying bogus contact lenses.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported 19,959 seizures of counterfeit goods in 2010 with a value of $188.1 million – a 34 percent increase. Authentic items would have cost $1.4 billion.While law enforcement is making inroads, technology has made it easier for counterfeiters to produce knock-off goods “to near perfection,” says Joe LaRocca, a senior adviser to the National Retail Federation, a trade group for retailers.Consumers’ emphasis on low-cost items in a still-recovering economy opens up a new path for counterfeiters, too, he said.“It impacts any sector of retail – from sunglasses and handbags to the labeling of food,” LaRocca said.Counterfeit goods tend to be sold by street vendors and available at discount and secondhand stores, but also occasionally work their way into a retail store’s supply, he said.People who make and sell counterfeit goods often have backgrounds in drugs, gangs or other illegal activities and sell the merchandise to fund larger-scale criminal operations, officials say.“They’re folks who have chosen this lifestyle. They think it’s safer,” says Richie McCluskey, chief investigator with the state’s Consumer Protection Division.Hood says the website aims to streamline the reporting process and help people identify a counterfeit item.
Being able to differentiate between what’s legitimate and what isn’t is difficult, but there are some tell-tale signs people can spot, LaRocca said.First and foremost is the price. If it’s marked down significantly from the suggested retail price, that could mean it’s counterfeit, he said.It’s also common for bogus goods, particularly DVDs, to be on sale well before a previously announced national release date, he said.Counterfeit clothing often has no labeling or generic labeling mentioning only the price, LaRocca said.Mississippi’s intellectual-property-theft laws carry penalties of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
HP Kuwait Highlights Latest Product Innovations and Technologies against counterfeits
HP announced earlier today as part of their ongoing fight against counterfeits, new product innovations and technologies that will build further leadership momentum around printing and workflow solutions. The event was in the form of an interesting panel discussion with speakers from HP, Microsoft and Sheikha Rasha Naif Al Jaber Al Ahmad Al-Sabah, Director of IPR at the Kuwait Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The event was well attended by HP’s customers, partners and key media representatives.
“Awareness is key when it comes to fighting counterfeit products and it’s our constant endeavor to update customs, law enforcement authorities, our channel partners and our valuable customers on the latest products and technologies that help spot suspicious printing supplies.” said Omar Draghmeh Managing Director, HP Kuwait. “Our focus is always to give customers the quality and reliability they can count on. Our new labels on cartridges feature sophisticated holographic properties as well as a new Quick Response (QR) code which customers can easily validate using a web-enabled smartphone or online via a new HP web page. We are investing heavily to protect our partners, distributors and customers across the Middle East region.”
Officials from the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce, Microsoft and HP discussed the challenges posed by counterfeit goods and piracy to Kuwait and the wider Middle East region. The participants affirmed that education and increased vigilance, as well as evolving technologies including HP Mobile Authentication and Software Authentication will help protect consumers and businesses against fake merchandise.HP’s Mobile Authentication technology enables customers to verify the authenticity of their cartridge prior to purchase through the validation of coded security labels on both inkjet and LaserJet cartridges. Subsequently, customers can also validate cartridge authenticity by using the HP Software Authentication solution installed in HP printers.
The HP Anti-counterfeit Programme EMEA is making great progress in the fight against counterfeiting of its print cartridges and in protecting end-users and HP channel partners from falling victim to this illegal activity. All over EMEA, over the last four years, HP has conducted nearly 1,000 investigations, resulting in over 800 enforcement actions (raids and seizures by authorities) and nearly 9 million units of counterfeit products and components seized, thus preventing them from being sold in the EMEA marketplace and beyond.The HP ACF Programme encourages the reporting of information on suspicious printing supplies products or offers, no matter where the information comes from. Every lead is acknowledged and assessed and further action is taken as appropriate. There are several reporting channels through which suspicions can be reported to the Programme.
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10 most counterfeited products in America
Approximately $1.26 billion worth of counterfeit goods originating overseas were seized by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in 2012. Each seizure averaged $10,450 worth of counterfeitgoods. The value and the number of seizures changes dramatically each year due to the products sold and the success of CBP operations. The value of handbags and wallets seized in 2012 rose 142% compared with the previous year. Therese Randazzo, the director of the Intellectual Property Policy and Programs Division for the CBP, explained that CBP officials may seize knockoffs of more expensive brands in one year than in another. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 most counterfeit items seized in 2012, based on their retail value.
Lear MoreZambia: Ban On Counterfeit Phones Coming
ZAMBIA is in the process of banning the use and trade in all counterfeit and uncertified mobile phones in the country this year in an effort to curb security threats and halt the illegal trade in these gadgets.
The Zambia Information Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) said with the planned introduction of International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) registration, the process of banning counterfeit phones in Zambia was expected to start soon.
In a statement, ZICTA said it was expected that counterfeit mobile phones with fake IMEIs would be eliminated from the Zambian market. This will be done by blocking such phones from accessing Mobile networks in Zambia. .“Once the IMEI registration is implemented, these counterfeit phones will not be able to work on any network in this country,” ZICTA said.Introduction of IMEI registration would be announced to the general public in due course and this expected to in turn, wipe out the counterfeit phones with fake IMEI as they would be blocked from all networks in Zambia.
ZICTA has assured members of the public that they would be given adequate notice for this registration exercise.“The list of effects is endless but most prominent is the compromise on the quality of service these phones cause. Security, health, environmental threats, and compromise on standards, are some of the perceived effects of counterfeit phones on humans and markets. It is in this regard that ZICTA is working closely with relevant organisations such as the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) to curb both the importation and use of these products in Zambia,” ZICTA said.
In accordance with the ICT Act number 15 of 2009, ZICTA is conferred with the responsibility to approve all equipment used in the provision of electronic communication, mobile phones inclusive.ZICTA would work closely with ZABS to ensure that ICT equipment such as mobile phones used in Zambia, were of a specified standard.ZICTA to ensure that the ban of counterfeit and uncertified mobile phones in Zambia is successfully implemented, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ZABS and ZRA to enhance collaboration.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201301281070.html
Lear MoreQuartet held for fake medical camp
Police busted a fake medical camp and arrested four posing as medical practitioners following a complaint on Sunday.
Sources said, the team of four, posing as medical practitioners, conducted a medical screening camp at Alangudi on Sunday. A day prior to the camp, the team publicised the event in the neighbourhood and announced that screening would be carried out on various ailments including Osteoporosis with latest equipment for a nominal fee.
On Sunday, hundreds of villagers gathered at the camp. Tests were conducted on the villagers and they were told to pay Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 for medicines manufactured by an unknown pharmaceutical company.
The villagers asked the medical team for their postal address for further communication which the team denied.An altercation ensued over the issue between the public and the medical team.On information, a police team of Alangudi rushed to the spot and made enquiry with medical team. Initial inquiry revealed that the members of the medical team are not academically qualified.
The fake medical team returned the amount which was collected from the public after the police intervened. Later, police took Kannan of Chennai, Ongaranathan and two assistants of the team to the police station for further enquiry. The investigation lasted till evening on Sunday.Tension prevailed in the area among the public after the police arrested the four member gang.
Lear MoreCounterfeit Bearings in Shanghai; a Growing Problem, (Tokyo)
Customers in China are suffering from the increasing number of counterfeit Japanese bearing introduced in the country. NACHI-Fujikoshi (NACHI) working in cooperation with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and their activities to safeguard the intellectual property of Japanese firms, conducted research in the Chinese bearing market regarding the distribution of counterfeit products sold in Shanghai. NACHI is an active member in the intellectual property protection activities of JETRO and is committed to the eradication of counterfeit bearings in China.
Recently a prominent market has developed throughout Shanghai for counterfeit bearings and field research was conducted by JETRO to assess the extent of the practice. According to the survey, 29 stores, in a population of 40 stores investigated, sold counterfeit bearings. In 28 of the stores there was a mixture of genuine and counterfeit products sold. Two shops selling genuine products over the counter were well aware of the channels of supply of forged bearings. It is estimated that two-thirds of all shops in Shanghai were involved in selling counterfeit goods.
The research uncovered the existence of a complicated network of companies working together to manufacture, pack, transport and export the counterfeit products. In a specific example, a sale from a shop in Shanghai placed an order to a company in Shandong that acted as the coordinator. This company sent a production order for non-branded bearings to a company in Zhejiang province which made and shipped the bearings to a Shandong company for marking and labeling. The bearings returned to Zhejiang where they were place in forged packaging to resemble the genuine article and shipped to the end customer. Delivery for this complicated procedure was surprisingly fast.
The report called for more detailed research and understanding of the supply chain and the companies involved. Cooperation, relationship building and strengthening of law enforcement agency activities across multiple provincial governments is needed in order to crackdown and stop the high degree of counterfeit practices in the region and to ensure customers receive genuine products. NACHI will continue to work with JETRO and the World Bearing Association (WBA) in this initiative.
Piracy vendors may face assets seizure
Vendors who sell falsely labelled counterfeit products valued at more than 500,000 baht could face the seizure of their personal assets in the foreseeable future, the Commerce Ministry warned on Monday.Deputy Commerce Minister Nattawut Saikuar saidthis was being considered as part of the ministry’s commitment this year to tighten its efforts to tackle intellectual property violations.
An amendment bill to theAnti-Money Laundering Act 1999, which makes intellectual property thefta predicate offence, has already been passed by parliament and is awaiting royal appoval, he said.It will becomeeffective immediately when it is published in the Royal Gazette.According to Mr Nattawut, the ministry will laterpropose criteria forpenalties relating to intellectual property violations which would include asset or property confiscation.A predicate offence means any criminal offence that generates proceeds.The ministry would try its best to track downthe prime offenders, he added.“We’re ready to use the new legislation to confiscate the assets of anybody found to have over 500,000 baht worth of pirated or counterfeit products,” he said. According to the ministry, there were 8,400 IP infringement cases last year, 50 of which were valued at over 500,000 baht, mainly involvingbrand-name products.According to Mr Natthawut, as part of the action plans to tackle IP infringement, the Intellectual Property Department plans to call a meeting next week with owners of rental space both at department stores and government buildings as well as internet service providers, asking them for cooperation to help tackle IP violations.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/333046/pirated-goods-vendors-may-face-asset-seizure
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How cigarette smuggling fuels Africa’s Islamist violence
Contrabrand tobacco is a $1bn trade in north Africa, run by extremists including Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who masterminded the attack on the Algerian gas plant. The trade is highly profitable – and very low risk, Cigarette sellers waiting for customers at a street stall in Benghazi, Libya. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP. For many years Mokhtar Belmokhtar was little more than a footnote in the intelligence reports analysing the increasingly muscular presence of Islamist groups in SaharanAfrica.The man whoseal-Qaida-inspired Signed in Blood Battalion led the attack on the In Amenas gas plant inAlgeria, in which at least 38 people were killed, was considered a relatively unimportant figure in the political ecosystem of the vast region. But Belmokhtar, who fought for the mujahideen in Afghanistan and the Islamist GIA in the Algerian civil war before becoming a commander in the Mali-based al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), was ambitious.In 2003 he masterminded the kidnapping of 32 European tourists whom he successfully ransomed. The money gave him the seed capital he needed to develop a sophisticated trading business throughout Saharan Africa, along the ancient 2,000-mile salt route used by the Tuareg tribesmen to transport goods from the continent’s west coast through to Timbuktu in Mali, then on to Niger before arriving in the Algerian south, gateway to the Mediterranean.
But while the Tuareg made their money in trading salt, gold and silk, Belmokhtar, who secured close links with the tribesmen through marriages to the daughters of several of their most prominent families, made a fortune through a different commodity: smuggled cigarettes. Such was the volume of his trade that he earned himself the sobriquet “Mr Marlboro”.”He was not an important figure in AQIM, he was quite different from al-Qaida and Bin Laden,” said Morten Bøås, a senior research fellow at Oslo University and editor ofAfrican Guerrillas: Raging Against the Machine. “He is generally known as one of the more pragmatic figures, more interested in filling his own pockets than fighting jihad.”The key role cigarettes play in facilitating terrorism has been inexplicably ignored. But it has become of urgent interest to western intelligence agencies as they seek to check al-Qaida’s diverse factions operating across the Saharan region.
Indeed, after interviewing numerous agents and experts in the field, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has concluded that “cigarette smuggling has provided the bulk of financing for AQIM”. AQIM’s affiliates include Ansar al-Sharia, an offshoot blamed for the killing of the American ambassador, Chris Stevens, in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and was thought to be behind threats last week that prompted the Foreign Office to urge Britons to leave the city.The total value of the illicit tobacco trade in north Africa is thought to exceed $1bn (£632m). The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that Africans smoke 400bn cigarettes a year, of which 60bn are bought on the black market.However, five countries – Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia – smoke 44% of Africa’s cigarettes, and their black markets are significantly larger. More than three-quarters of all cigarettes smoked in Libya, for example, are illicit.Controlling the flow of contraband into these counties has triggered a turf war as Belmokhtar and other AQIM factions compete with each other, as well as with Tuareg tribes and corrupt army and government officials, in an attempt to “own” the trade. Some of the cigarettes transported across Saharan Africa are fakes produced in China and Vietnam. But most are genuine branded product, sourced through the Middle East and shipped through a multitude of countries via a Byzantine network of middle-men and companies, many in offshore tax havens.The cigarettes often enter west Africa through Ghana, Benin and Togo. A second route is via Guinea, where the supply, according to UNODC, vastly exceeds the country’s demand. The cigarettes are then moved to Mali by road or by boat on the Niger river, where there is little risk of detection. A third distribution hub – for Senegal, Morocco and Algeria – is provided by Mauritania.In each case, Mr Marlboro and AQIM clean up, either by charging a “tax” for the safe passage of the cigarettes along the salt route, or facilitating their transport, using 4x4s, trucks, motorcycles and even bicycles.Often the smuggled products are not a premium western brand, such as Marlboro, but one of the cheaper, less prestigious marques that the tobacco giants are keen to introduce to developing nations as a way of gaining a foothold in their markets.Inevitably, the endemic smuggling of cigarettes in such countries has raised questions about the role played by big tobacco, and in particular the extent to which it should be made responsible for distribution routes being used to fill the coffers of some of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world.Internal company memos show that in the 1980s British American Tobacco in Africa used a Liechtenstein-based company, Sorepex, as a key distributor. BAT documents reveal that the company saw Sorepex as a “gravy train” and a way of providing “cover, albeit increasingly flimsy, for BAT in some fairly shady business”. The company insists that it condemns all forms of smuggling.In 2002, RJ Reynolds, owner of the Winston brand, was accused by the EU of selling its products in Iraq in breach of embargoes. The cigarettes were allegedly smuggled into the country by the PKK (Kurdish Workers’ party), named by the American government as a terrorist group. Documents allegedly revealed that the cigarettes were transported from the US and shipped to Spain and then to Cyprus and Turkey before arriving in Iraq. The case is currently before a federal appeal court in the US.More recently, Japan Tobacco confirmed last year that it is being investigated by the EU amid claims it broke sanctions by shipping cigarettes to a firm linked to the Syrian regime. The company has denied any wrongdoing.Experts say that the profits provided by cigarette smuggling fuel other criminal activities, including drug, oil andhuman trafficking, activities which often use the same distribution networks. But cigarettes remain the most profitable and least risky form of contraband. As Louise Shelley, a crime expert at Washington’s George Mason university, told the ICIJ: “No one thinks that cigarette smuggling is too serious, so law enforcement agencies don’t spend resources to go after it.”This helps explain why terrorist groups exploit the illicit trade. According to the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the IRA made as much as $100m between 1999 and 2004 by smuggling cigarettes into Northern Ireland. Hezbollah ran a successful smuggling operation in the US, shipping cigarettes from low-tax North Carolina to higher- tax Michigan.”Tobacco smuggling is lucrative and widespread,” said Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the charity Action on Smoking and Health. “It helps to fundglobal terrorismand conflict, encourages corruption and remains a source of funds for some of the most repressive regimes in the world.”Intelligence experts told theObserverthat pushing illicit cigarettes into north Africa was at the “low end” of cigarette smuggling. The real money, they said, comes from shipping big-brand products back into Europe via Greece, Spain or sometimes Italy. So far, this is believed to be a small but growing market for the smugglers.While there is no suggestion that the tobacco giants are actively working with terrorist groups, monitoring where their products end up is extremely difficult. The companies’ use of well-connected middlemen makes tracing their cigarettes almost impossible. Documents shared with theObserverby intelligence experts show how one middleman, who regularly buys product from a major tobacco company, has a complex operation involving offices, warehouses and bank accounts in Cyprus, Brussels, Dubai, Malaysia, Egypt, Israel, Uruguay, Panama and Singapore that allows him to move cigarettes around the world without being traced.”Those providing ‘protection’ along the routes – often customs officers or security services, but in some instances ‘terrorists’ – make good money for little or no work,” said one intelligence expert who has worked in counter-smuggling operations. “What’s best for them is that the trade is either in US dollars or euros. It’s hard currency into clean accounts which they can then use at their leisure to buy whatever they need.”Experts want countries to ratify the international treaty on the illicit trade in tobacco that would force cigarette companies to monitor and trace the distribution of their products while conducting due diligence on their customers.”The only way you can effectively police this is if the manufacturers accept legal responsibility for their products all along the chain of supply – that will force them to deal with reputable agents,” said Eric LeGresley, a Canadian lawyer who has studied tobacco companies.Ironically, Belmokhtar may have been too successful at smuggling cigarettes. It is rumoured that late last year he was forced out of AQIM and his base in Mali after the organisation’s leaders questioned his commitment to their cause. Mr Marlboro, they suggested, was more interested in money than ideals.The slaughter in the Sahara may have been Belmokhtar’s grotesque attempt to prove them wrong, something that has huge consequences for his smuggling operations.”His days as a smuggler are over,” Bøås predicted. “No bandits or traders will want to be within a kilometre of him now. They don’t want to be targeted by American drones.”But, given the money at stake, there will be no shortage of others ready to take his place.
Tobacco and Terrorism
The TalibanAcross the tribal belt of Pakistan, Taliban militias collect money from cigarette smugglers in exchange for allowing counterfeit Marlboro and cheap local brands into Afghanistan and China. Cigarettes have become an increasingly important source of financing for the groups, second only to the heroin trade, according to Pakistani intelligence officials.
The PKKCharges a fee for every container of cigarettes allowed to pass through its territory. Controlled the flow of contraband cigarettes into Iraq during the 1990s; now controls the flood of counterfeit cigarettes out of the same country.
FarcThe world’s largest supplier of cocaine often uses its well established drug smuggling routes to move American cigarettes according to evidence given to the US Senate.
The CNDPIn 2008, the UN claimed that The Congres National Pour la Defense du Peuple, a Tutsi-backed rebel group accused of atrocities, was being funded by Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa, a tobacco tycoon who pleaded guilty to cigarette tax evasion charges in South Africa.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/27/cigarette-smuggling-mokhtar-belmokhtar-terrorism
Lear MoreMobile Phone Counterfeiting Blamed on Weak Govt Regulations
Mobile phone manufacturer, Tecno Telecoms has traced the proliferation of counterfeit mobile phones in the Nigerian market, to weak government regulations in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector.Deputy General Manager of Tecno Telecoms, manufacturer of Tecno brand of mobile phones, Mr. Chidi Okonwo, who gave the information in Lagos, told THIS DAY that there were a lot of counterfeit brands of mobile phones in the Nigerian market, noting that unless government strengthened its regulatory policies, the situation would continue un addressed.According to Okonkwo, “Government policy on regulations is weak and because of these people took undue advantage of government to do all manner of things in a bid to smuggle unlicensed mobile phones through unauthorised channels into the Nigerian market. The laws are there but there are no strict regulations on compliance.” Government, he added, needed to strengthen its regulatory policies in order to address the challenge that was adversely affecting mobile phone business in the country.
He believed that if there was a strict regulation, people would be discouraged from indulging in phone counterfeiting business.Sales Manager, West Africa, for ITEL brand of phones, Mr. Shyamol Saho, who confirmed the influx of counterfeit mobile phones in the Nigerian market, also told THISDAY that the ITEL brand suffered counterfeit products in 2012, when two of its products were faked and sold in the Nigerian market.He warned dealers that were involved in such business to desist from it, promising that ITEL would not compromise on any of its products.Mobile phone manufacturers are currently facing challenges with counterfeit mobile phones that are making huge sales in the Nigerian market.Blaming phone dealers for the situation, Okonwo said: “The reason for this is because most re sellers are desperate to make profits and in the process, they smuggle in fake products into the market from unauthorised distributors.Speaking on the effects of counterfeiting in the mobile phone business, Okonwo said: “It comes with lots of pains on the part of the original phone manufacturers and the phone buyers themselves.”
According to him, “phone manufacturers lose money in the process because their products were faked and people would unknowingly patronise fake products, thus making the manufacturers to loose market margins to counterfeiters.“Again, the innocent buys are short-changed because it is difficult to differentiate counterfeit phones from original phones by mere facial looks.”
“The issue is that counterfeits are substandard phones that do not last and do not perform at maximum level of efficiency. The buyers will not get value for their money and the original manufacturers would have lost sales in the process,” Okonwo added.He further explained that the situation would bring conflict on brand perception, because the customers may begin to feel that a particular brand is no longer as good as it used to be, and then distant themselves from the brand not knowing that what they have is counterfeit and not the original product of the brand manufacturer.He called for consumer education in order to create awareness on the part of consumes.“If there is a strong enlightenment programme from government and the manufacturers, consumers will begin to understand the difference between fake and original product. Then those customers that deliberately prefer to buy counterfeit phones because they appear cheaper, will begin to understand the need to buy original phones, instead of counterfeit.”He suggested the creation of various communication channels for dissemination of information to customers on where to buy genuine phones and how to identify genuine phones from fake ones.
Lear More