Shady business of fakes7/24/2023 ![]() "Only a few sell knockoff items, but the ones that do are huge." "Most of the vendors are totally legal," he says. Also, word of SJPD's presence spreads fast and vendors often close their booths for the day. On each trip to Berryessa, SJPD usually limits the number of arrests to three because of the time it takes to catalog and inventory the confiscated items. Such a process was used during a May visit to the Berryessa Flea Market, where SJPD made several arrests. Then the group works with the law enforcement agencies to make arrests and issue citations. Prior to contacting the sheriff's office or the SJPD, Investigative Consultants identifies vendors who are selling fake items. A Dooney & Bourke handbag with a "Made in China" label must be a fake, Buckner explains, because the company assembles its product in the United States. In some cases, an investigator must know where a company manufactures its product. "We're trained by the various companies," explains Buckner, whose client list includes Chanel, NFL Properties, Rolex, Seiko and Warner Bros., "to be able to tell apart a counterfeit from the real product." With the better fakes, it takes specialized company and trademark knowledge to spot them, says Buckner, a former police officer. Kris Buckner, an investigator with Southern Californiabased Investigative Consultants, says that most counterfeit products are better replicas than Siekos. A smart shopper might also suspect that a Nike T-shirt with a Hanes tag on the collar probably wasn't crafted by Nike-certified laborers. For instance, it doesn't take much to figure out that a "Sieko" watch is not an authentic Seiko. That's why corporations like Nike hire private investigators to police flea markets around the country and here in Silicon Valley. Identifying fakes often takes a trained eye, something local police officers don't have. ![]() And they travel from flea market to flea market." Just while we were observing them, they were doing a pretty brisk business. "One of the vendors had over 600 items of clothing that were counterfeit. "The vendors make a good deal of money selling these things," Pugh says. Officers confiscated a truckload of goods, arrested and cited the suspects, and released them at the scene. In June, officers from the Sheriff's Department visited the De Anza market and arrested six vendors. (In earlier times, it was more common to find people hocking stolen merchandise, he says.) Luther Pugh, a community services officer with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department, calls counterfeiting the most common crime at flea markets. The number grew to $66 billion in 1998 and has more than doubled to today's estimated $200 billion loss. In 1982, the International Trade Commission estimated that knockoffs had a $5.5 billion effect on the American economy-in terms of lost profits and jobs for the original manufacturers and expenses incurred by law enforcement efforts aimed at catching the counterfeiters. At any given market, one out of every 10 items is probably a knockoff, said William Wolfe, a detective with the San Jose Police Department. "I got caught once, and once was enough."Įach week, thousands of fakes are still being sold at swap meets and flea markets throughout Santa Clara County and the country. "I used to carry knockoffs, but I changed my merchandise," Rivas says. shirts, jackets, hats and shoes-called "knockoffs"-all at unbelievably low prices. Among the items she carried were faux Nike, Adidas and Warner Bros. Four years ago, she was caught selling counterfeit goods. ![]() I try to carry quality merchandise, and here customers appreciate it."īut Rivas didn't always carry quality merchandise. "I like this because it's once a month," Rivas says of the Cupertino outdoor market, located on the campus of De Anza College. Most people are still in bed on a Saturday morning in summer, but Mary Ellen Rivas and her teenage son and daughter are hard at work setting up their booth at the De Anza Flea Market, where they sell stickers, earrings and gift items. ![]() IT'S EARLY MORNING, and the sun is just rising. Police round up flea-market sellers of counterfeit cool stuff, because manufacturers are losing $200 billion a year They make arrests following leads from private investigators hired by corporate giants to protect their good name. Shady Business: Police say the selling of cheaply priced faux brand-name items has become a common practice at area flea markets. Metroactive News & Issues | Flea Market Fraud
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