Fake Watches

[geoff1248]

Several years ago while on holiday in Asia I bought a fake Rolex Oyster watch. I knew it was a fake and the guy on the market stall knew it was a fake; infact his whole stall was full of fake watches.

I now understand that there are certain countries that can arrest me and charge me for having this fake watch.

The Govt. says that these fakes help fund organised crime although I must admit that I have never been given any proof of this fact. So I am just trying to think who the injured party is in my crime of having bought this watch.

Certainly I couldn't have afforded a genuine Rolex so Rolex haven't lost any income.

As a point of interest this £10 fake has been running faultlessly for about 3 years and still looks immaculate.

[ScarletPimpernel]

Rolex do lose - their brand value is diluted as customers are put off by the number of fakes around. Counterfeits are also often sold as genuine to unwitting buyers (some of them are quite hard to spot as fakes unless you know what to look for) - various tags and boxes can be bought to make them look even more convincing.

 

Groups such as PIRA and other terrorists raise funds from counterfeit CDs, DVDs, software and watches. Counterfeit goods are used by many criminal groups (and especially terrorists) to generate income, because it's easy, the returns are high, and sentences for counterfeiting are generally lower than those for other fund-raising activities such as extortion and robbery. Of course, customers rarely think that their purchase may have helped to fund terrorism. Payment for counterfeit goods is usually taken in cash, so it also lends itself to money laundering.

 

Over the years I've personally seen counterfeit watches sold in Northern Ireland, the Balkans and Iraq - all places where the funds are used to finance violence, often against us.