Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#11

Post by rckoepke » Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 5:29 PM UTC

The categories of things that I've received counterfeit versions of on Amazon have been truly mind-blowing. It's been replacement HEPA filters, cat toys, even breakfast cereal. It's not just earphones/mics, batteries, usb cables, flash drives, extension cords, and other electronics.

Who counterfeits breakfast cereal??? I've had this issue with both Quaker Oats and Raisin Bran. The scale of fraud is magnificent. And it really gaslights consumers; it took me forever to actually accept that I was eating an off-brand imitation of my favorite cereals.

I do still buy from Amazon. The ease of returns still gives me confidence that I can decide after receiving an item whether the price:quality ratio is worth it.

But not if I absolutely need it to conform to certain standards and I don't have the skills/tools to validate the performance myself (like HEPA filters). Then I tend to buy from somewhere with a more curated supply chain (Home Depot, direct from manufacturers website, etc).

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#12

Post by mtnGoat » Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 5:30 PM UTC

considering they make money either way, i feel like this could be kind of dubious and just lip service. i would have more faith if an uninvolved party was doing the work.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#13

Post by ikeboy » Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 5:33 PM UTC

When are they going to start suing those who file false claims of counterfeiting?

Google started something similar last year when they sued someone who was abusing YouTube's DMCA system. https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/15/20915688/youtube-copyrig...

But despite widespread abuse of Amazon's IP reporting system, to date Amazon has not sued anyone for that as far as I know.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#14

Post by jbay808 » Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 5:34 PM UTC

rckoepke wrote: post #11

The categories of things that I've received counterfeit versions of on Amazon have been truly mind-blowing. It's been replacement HEPA filters, cat toys, even breakfast cereal. It's not just earphones/mics, batteries, usb cables, flash drives, extension cords, and other electronics. Who counterfeits breakfast cereal??? I've had this issue with both Quaker Oats and Raisin Bran. The scale of fraud is magnificent. And i…

My company got a counterfeit textbook.

On the cover was the book we had ordered, about control theory. The printed pages were a veterinary textbook by a different publisher.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#15

Post by ponker » Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 5:42 PM UTC

jbay808 wrote: post #14

rckoepke wrote: post #11

The categories of things that I've received counterfeit versions of on Amazon have been truly mind-blowing. It's been replacement HEPA filters, cat toys, even breakfast cereal. It's not just earphones/mics, batteries, usb cables, flash drives, extension cords, and other electronics. Who counterfeits breakfast cereal??? I've had this issue with both Quaker Oats and Raisin Bran. The scale of fraud is magnificent. And i…

My company got a counterfeit textbook. On the cover was the book we had ordered, about control theory. The printed pages were a veterinary textbook by a different publisher.

That, frankly, is downright pleasant compared to counterfeit food.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#16

Post by mjevans » Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 5:50 PM UTC

Having a chain of ownership list would be a great help with this. Track and report which company owned the item back to it's manufacture and who 'owned' the IP of the run. Even more ideally also the production time, etc.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#17

Post by awinter-py » Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 5:53 PM UTC

ponker wrote: post #15

jbay808 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My company got a counterfeit textbook. On the cover was the book we had ordered, about control theory. The printed pages were a veterinary textbook by a different publisher.

That, frankly, is downright pleasant compared to counterfeit food.

you say that now but you'll change your tune when future control theory only works on dogs

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#18

Post by LegitShady » Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 5:56 PM UTC

jbay808 wrote: post #14

rckoepke wrote: post #11

The categories of things that I've received counterfeit versions of on Amazon have been truly mind-blowing. It's been replacement HEPA filters, cat toys, even breakfast cereal. It's not just earphones/mics, batteries, usb cables, flash drives, extension cords, and other electronics. Who counterfeits breakfast cereal??? I've had this issue with both Quaker Oats and Raisin Bran. The scale of fraud is magnificent. And i…

My company got a counterfeit textbook. On the cover was the book we had ordered, about control theory. The printed pages were a veterinary textbook by a different publisher.

That must have been a hilarious return.

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#19

Post by julianozen » Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 5:57 PM UTC

rckoepke wrote: post #11

The categories of things that I've received counterfeit versions of on Amazon have been truly mind-blowing. It's been replacement HEPA filters, cat toys, even breakfast cereal. It's not just earphones/mics, batteries, usb cables, flash drives, extension cords, and other electronics. Who counterfeits breakfast cereal??? I've had this issue with both Quaker Oats and Raisin Bran. The scale of fraud is magnificent. And i…

Really interested to hear how you figured out the breakfast was fake

Re: Amazon establishes new Counterfeit Crimes Unit

#20

Post by CobrastanJorji » Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 5:57 PM UTC

jbay808 wrote: post #14

rckoepke wrote: post #11

The categories of things that I've received counterfeit versions of on Amazon have been truly mind-blowing. It's been replacement HEPA filters, cat toys, even breakfast cereal. It's not just earphones/mics, batteries, usb cables, flash drives, extension cords, and other electronics. Who counterfeits breakfast cereal??? I've had this issue with both Quaker Oats and Raisin Bran. The scale of fraud is magnificent. And i…

My company got a counterfeit textbook. On the cover was the book we had ordered, about control theory. The printed pages were a veterinary textbook by a different publisher.

I'm curious about the incentive that leads to this. If you're going to print and sell counterfeit textbooks, why not use the actual content? Surely nearly every copy with a random other book will be returned. Is it possible that they meant to include the right content, but they counterfeit lots of books and have low quality control? My best guess is that they can easily grab a copy of a book's cover online, but actually acquiring and scanning a copy of each book is cost prohibitive, so they just sell entirely fake ones and hope that they get at least some money out of it.