Хууль сахиулагчид Дэлхийн аварга шалгаруулах тэмцээний үеэр хуурамч өмсгөл болон бусад бараа бүтээгдэхүүний эсрэг томоохон ажиллагаа явуулж, 32 сая долларын хохирлоос урьдчилан сэргийлсэн байна.
АНУ-ын Гааль, хил хамгаалах албанаас зохион байгуулсан “Эцсийн шүгэл” ажиллагааны хүрээнд хамгийн их хураагдсан бараа нь Лионель Мессигийн нэртэй Аргентины шигшээ багийн өмсгөл байв. Албаныхан Нью-Йорк, Майами, Хьюстон зэрэг хотуудад хуурамч бүтээгдэхүүний худалдааг таслан зогсоосон бөгөөд нийтдээ 445,000 гаруй хуурамч эд зүйлсийг хураан авчээ. Мөн Канад улсад 16,000, Их Британийн Эдинбург хотод 58,000 хуурамч өмсгөл илрүүлсэн нь энэ төрлийн гэмт хэрэг олон улсын шинж чанартай болохыг харуулж байна.
Гаалийн ажилтан Франк Руссогийн мэдээлснээр, хуурамч барааны 60-70 хувь нь Хятад болон Хонконгоос ирдэг бөгөөд эдгээр нь ихэвчлэн зохион байгуулалттай гэмт бүлэглэлүүдийн санхүүжилтийн эх үүсвэр болдог байна. Хууль сахиулагчид хэрэглэгчдэд хандан хямд үнэтэй, хуурамч бүтээгдэхүүн худалдан авах нь мөнгө угаах болон терроризмын эсрэг үйл ажиллагааг дэмжиж буй хэрэг гэдгийг анхаарууллаа.
Мэргэжлийн байгууллагуудын зүгээс хуурамч барааны зах зээл нь дэлхийн худалдааны 2.3 хувийг эзэлж, жинхэнэ бизнес эрхлэгчдэд ноцтой хохирол учруулдаг болохыг онцолсон юм. Долоодугаар сарын 14-нд зарласан Эдинбургийн ажиллагаагаар гэхэд Англи, Шотланд, Франц, Испани, Португалын шигшээ багийн өмсгөлүүд ихээр хураагдсан байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized over 445,000 counterfeit items related to the World Cup — including fake football shirts — in national operations during the tournament. Officials say the loss to industry due to the illicit trade is worth approximately $32million.
Leading into the final in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey — part of the New York metropolitan area — ‘Operation Final Whistle’ targeted the illegal sale and distribution of merchandise.
One shirt was the most commonly seized.
“It’s Messi,” director of field operations Frank Russo of CBP’s New York field office tells The Athletic. “We’ve seen a lot of Messi jerseys with him playing so well. We get the full gamut, but the more popular players are going to be featured.”
Pop-up stalls around tourist hotspots near Times Square sold Argentina shirts for $30 to $40 compared to the $110 official Adidas versions. Argentina fans gathered there in the build-up (and after losing the final), and the ‘Messi 10’ shirt was the shirt of choice.
Many supporters, when asked by The Athletic whether their shirts were real or fake, freely admitted that they were cut-priced versions and had been purchased in the U.S. or online.
In the city alone, 2,000 seizures of packages and inspections of 1,400 flights and cargo shipments resulted in 65,000 items being intercepted by law enforcement.
Across the 11 host cities in the U.S., other law enforcement — including the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center — carried out raids on stalls around stadiums and in city centres, under the banner of ‘Operation Team Player’. Significant hauls were seized in Miami (16,000 items), Houston (12,000) and across the border in fellow host nation Canada, where a further 16,000 were seized in Toronto.
“Just like with the Super Bowl, we always see an incredible increase in the number of these shipments not only leading up to the final, but even past the final,” says Russo.
CBP say beyond protecting intellectual property rights, they aim to safeguard economic security and prevent proceeds “from reaching the hands of criminal organisations” and those that profit from forced labour.
Russo admits getting the message to land with fans who are unhappy with the high prices is tough. “We need to do a better job of educating the public on those risks,” which — he says — include proceeds going to criminal organisations that “fund everything from terrorism-related activity to money laundering to anything in between.”
CBP say between 60 and 70 per cent of the illicit goods sent to the U.S. — via air and sea — came from China and Hong Kong, a known hotspot for the manufacture of fake football shirts. One shipment manifest listed the cargo as towels, but investigators discovered over 2,000 items of counterfeit merchandise, including jerseys.
Shirts worth £5.5m were seized in a UK raid (Back Four Brand Protection)
In the UK, a record haul of 58,000 fake World Cup football shirts worth £5.5m ($7.3m) were seized in a raid in Scotland. The co-ordinated operation between City of Edinburgh Trading Standards, Police Scotland, the National Trading Standards Intellectual Property team in Newport, Wales and brand protection company Back Four was announced on July 14.
Investigators traced the operation to a distribution centre in the Scottish capital Edinburgh. Solely focused on World Cup sales, it was shipping shirts of only five nations: England (60 per cent), Scotland (20 per cent), France (6 per cent), Spain (6 per cent) and Portugal (8 per cent).
“This is an outstanding seizure that strikes a significant blow against organised criminal networks while protecting consumers from potentially unsafe and substandard products,” said John Herriman, Chief Executive of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.
“The global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods remains one of the world’s most pervasive illicit markets. The latest international estimates put its value at around $467 billion a year, representing 2.3 per cent of global trade. Far from being a victimless crime, counterfeiting undermines legitimate businesses, deprives economies of revenue, puts consumers at risk, and provides a source of income for organised crime groups.”
