Hi, I have received a letter from solicitors regarding 8 metres of fabric that I sold on eBay and Etsy claiming that I import and sell counterfeit products. I bought this fabric online to make curtains and then changed my mind and decided to sell them myself... They're asking for over £2,000 and the total selling price of the fabric was £250... I don't know what to do! Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you

Well I like to think myself super cautious when it comes to dealing with money but I recently discovered 2 fake £20 notes amongst a wad of notes I received for selling a mobile phone. Did some retail therapy around town then I went to my local supermarket and brought some bits and bobs and returned home. Later on that day I went back to the same store and grabbed some groceries, after leaving the store a member of staff came running screaming and shouting for me to stop, felt well embarrassed to say the least and I patted my pockets just in case I had somehow put something in my pocket by accident. When we got back to the store they explained that I had used a fake £20 to buy the goods and showed me a £20 note, now I knew from her manner and obvious experience handling cash that it was a fake note, but to me it looked absolutely real. They then snatched my bags off me and asked me for the change which I was in the process of removing from my pocket and again they snatched that off me, felt like a right criminal, "its the second one we had today" said the assistant and refused to give me the note back. I asked for a receipt for the note at which point the manageress gave me the note back and said I should take it to the post which was fair enough and her attitude was far more reasonable than the staff member who was treating me like some sort of underworld figure, this is my local store I use it 2-3 times a day. Any ways alarm bells started ringing and when I got back and googled I discovered it was indeed a fake £20 and amongst the bundle of notes I discovered 1 more. At this point I felt sick, I received £400 for my phone and £40 of this was fake notes, then it struck me. I had been in the store earlier and used a £20 note from the bundle,could it be that it was another fake. Question is should I have given them the money back, I know morally the answer is yes but legally do I have to return the money once they had accepted the fake note, for that matter if I contacted the buyer who told me he did not realise the notes were fake, would I also been in the same position as the shop keeper, at best a civil case ? I had spent some of the money before this incident in various stores around town, now I am not sure if any of that was fake but I did not have any problems so I can only hope it was genuine else I have become a major distributor of counterfeit money in my area.

Posting under a Pseudo, hope firstclassx, Old-CodJA and others are able to help. Partner has foolishly bought a counterfeit season ticket for not much less than the real price, he was stopped last Friday by a eagle eyed ticket inspector and turns out that it is fake. BTP were called but before they arrested him on fraud the ticket man said he would like it dealt with by way of going on by himself and not being arrested there and then as they would like to conduct further internal investigations and as long as BTP confirmed the identity he was happy with that. Partner told me about this last night and I am mortified, he is currently on a suspended sentence for an altercation earlier this year and I fear he will now activate that and as the only bread winner leave us with nothing losing his job as he will be sent to prison. I fear we will lose our house, our world, what a absolute idiot. He confirmed whilst on the phone that the ticket was not on the internal system but did relate to a valid ticket machine but none were sold at that exact time. Can you tell me what would be expected here? Would they pass it to BTP or would they contact me with what they have found? Would the charge be a byelaw or criminal? Would this be activated? I am in tears here.

Shoppers have been warned to beware of counterfeit olive oil – as criminal gangs exploit a disastrous Italian harvest by selling potentially dangerous bootleg bottles. Consumers should be particularly wary of olive oil that appears “too cheap to be true”, experts said. Fake oil produced in unhygienic conditions could put Britons at increased risk of E.coli and salmonella. The incentive for fraud has increased because the woeful olive harvest has left a shortage of the fruit required to make genuine oil – while the resulting rising price has increased the profits that can be made from selling fake bottles. The best way for consumers and restaurant buyers to determine whether olive oil is counterfeit is to look at the price. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-fans-are-told-to-prepare-for-a-flood-of-dangerous-counterfeit-olive-oil-10124249.html

The UK has the safest mains plugs and sockets in the world, however there are many illegal and dangerous counterfeit plugs being sold. Counterfeit plugs are often distinguished by having partially sleeved earth pins in clear contravention of BS 1363, that means that they cannot be legally sold (The Plugs & Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations (1994)). Despite that they are freely available from (amongst others) many ebay sellers, and even Amazon! Some of the counterfeits also have counterfeit fuses fitted, others have no fuses whatsoever! (To see what a counterfeit fuse can do, watch the video on the website at www dot bs1363.org.uk - this has lots more information and includes samples of ebay and Amazon sales listings. One unexpected aspect of this despicable trade is that ebay have shown far greater responsibility than Amazon. ebay have so far removed over 60 listings of power leads since a trading standards officer first raised it with them one month ago, but Amazon simply say they are "investigating" whilst continuing to ignore the law and carry on selling these potentially lethal items!