Apple sought removal of 1M counterfeit products from online marketplaces in last year

Posted:
in General Discussion edited March 2021
A dedicated anti-counterfeit team at Apple has sought the removal of more than one million listings for knockoff or fake Apple products in the past year.

Credit: AppleInsider
Credit: AppleInsider


A spokesperson for the Cupertino tech giant shared that tidbit in a statement to Bloomberg as part of a report focused on counterfeit iPhone chargers. The spokesperson said that the safety of Apple consumers is the company's first priority, and that the risks associated with knockoff accessories can be "very serious."

"We have a dedicated team of experts constantly working with law enforcement, merchants, social media companies and e-commerce sites around the world to remove counterfeit products from the market," the spokesperson said. "In the last year we have sought the removal of over 1 million listings for counterfeit and fake Apple products from online marketplaces, including Facebook and Instagram."

The Bloomberg piece notes that the counterfeit accessory business is booming and has become a multimillion dollar business, according to a soon-to-be-released report from cybersecurity and social media intelligence firm Ghost Data.

Andrea Stroppa, a member of the Ghost Data team, became interested in counterfeit Apple goods when an inauthentic charging cable he purchased on Instagram exploded.

Apple has taken action against entities selling counterfeit goods in the past. Back in 2016, it filed a lawsuit against a vendor called Mobile Star accusing it of selling knockoff accessories on Amazon and Groupon. In that lawsuit, Apple said that a huge chunk of "genuine" accessories on Amazon were fake.

At the time, Amazon said it had a zero-tolerance policy for counterfeit goods. A Facebook spokesperson told Bloomberg that it also prohibits buying and selling knockoff products on Instagram.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    XedXed Posts: 2,519member
    I call BS on Amazon’s zero-tolerance policy. Not only do they seem to encourage counterfeit products, but also create their own knockoffs for their Basics product line when they see legitimate companies doing well via their store. 
    edited March 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 6
    Xed said:
    I call BS on Amazon’s zero-tolerance policy. Not only
    do they seem to encourage counterfeit products, but also create their own knockoffs for products when they see legitimate companies doing well via their store. 
    Yes it’s so bad that the counterfeiters product is usually featured at the bottom of the product page of the original item! 

    They don’t even try to hide it. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 6
    Amazon sneakily embeds the sponsored listings in the beginning, middle and end of each search results page. The fact that the results themselves are a deluge of Chinese products also doesn't help.

    I really dread looking for something on Amazon now, unless I know exactly which brand, which model it is that suits my needs.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 6
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Amazon sneakily embeds the sponsored listings in the beginning, middle and end of each search results page. The fact that the results themselves are a deluge of Chinese products also doesn't help.

    I really dread looking for something on Amazon now, unless I know exactly which brand, which model it is that suits my needs.
    I always check the reviews. If they’re glowing and only four or five words long:

    ”GREAT PRODUCT! BUY IT!”

    then it’s one of Amazon’s approved fakes. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 6
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    It is so hard to differentiate genuine vs counterfeit Apple accessories unless bought straight from Apple. In past, Amazon,Ebay,etc helped grow counterfeit products market because people trust sites like Amazon.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 6
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member
    What Apple calls "counterfeit" very often isn't. 


    They're just trying to control the used part and repair market.
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