Counterfeits, enforcement, and what actually catches them
News from the front line of brand protection — customs seizures, brand enforcement, market reports — and what each one says about verifying a product at the point a customer holds it. Written for brand owners and supply-chain teams.
Spanish police seized 109,000 counterfeit goods whose QR codes led to the brands' own websites
Operación Malabis took 109,000 fakes worth over €10M in Spain and Portugal. Some carried cloned QR codes that redirected perfectly to the real brands' websites.
A counterfeit factory inside the EU made 800,000 garments a year. Customs never saw them arrive.
2.1 million fake World Cup goods worth €132 million seized across 23 EU states — and a made-to-order counterfeit factory operating inside the EU, out of customs reach.
68% of counterfeits against Italian brands now sell on primary markets. Small parcels, single items.
The OECD finds counterfeits moved out of flea markets into normal retail, and 65% of seizures now move as single-item small parcels that evade inspection.
Vietnam's amended customs law covers transit counterfeits. Customs now decide on a suspension in two hours.
Vietnam's amended customs law extends IP enforcement to transit goods, gives customs ex officio suspension power, and sets a two-hour decision clock from 1 March 2027.
Thai police raided a Bangkok counterfeiting warehouse. The fakes were refilled bottles relabelled for TikTok.
A 3 November 2026 raid on a Bang Bon warehouse found 15,000+ counterfeit toiletries refilled into used bottles and sold via TikTok and Shopee. What it means for brand owners.
Eight Digital Product Passport standards are published. The two that prove authenticity are not yet law.
All eight Digital Product Passport standards are published. The two that prove a passport has not been tampered with are still not cited in the Official Journal.
Pakistan threatens to seal drug plants over medicine barcodes. Every pack needs a serial.
Pakistan made 2D barcodes and serial numbers mandatory for every medicine on 9 October. Non-compliant plants face being sealed. The enforcement design is the story.
Dutch customs seized 1.7 million fake Pokémon cards. The copies passed an officer's eye.
Half a container of counterfeit cards, seized in Rotterdam. Why inspection is not a control, and what it means for a brand owner.
China's customs seized 18,000 fake LABUBU toys in one day. The toys were not the point.
Beilun Customs caught three shipments of counterfeit Pop Mart blind boxes and plush toys. The interesting part is not the plush - it is what a brand can do about the 9,400 keychains.
41% of tested counterfeit fashion failed safety standards. One product had 650× the legal limit of a chemical.
The most rigorous safety dataset for counterfeit apparel — and a reminder that counterfeit exposure is a regulatory exposure, not just a revenue one.
Counterfeit beauty products containing mercury, lead and methanol — and a buyer statistic that changed
The UK regulator found hazardous chemicals in fake cosmetics. Meanwhile the share of young buyers knowingly choosing counterfeits tripled in three years.
Korea is putting a government authentication mark on its export brands. That is a new enforcement model.
The country is holding the trademark itself, using a secure mark, and treating scan data as an enforcement signal. Brand owners should study this one.
A brandy maker is selling proof the bottle has never been opened. The value proposition has moved.
Spirit of the Downs became the first live customer of a bottle-neck security seal — and the reasoning behind it generalises to every premium category.
LIQUI MOLY put a QR code on a motor oil cap, in 150 countries. Here is what a mass-market rollout teaches.
The closest real-world analogue to consumer-facing QR verification — and the unit economics argument that made it work.
AliExpress was fined €550 million over counterfeit goods. The direction of travel is now clear.
The largest marketplace enforcement action yet under the Digital Services Act, and what it signals about who gets held responsible for fakes reaching consumers.
The EU seized 196 million fake products in a year. Here is what that number actually means for a brand.
196 million items, €6.3 billion, and a category list that should change how a brand owner thinks about packaging risk.