My question is where is the FBI? The people who are selling them are right here in the USA. They import them from China and sell them wholesale to others who peddle them on eBay, other web sites and at flea markets. The leather shop near me has seen some and this is a small community. eBay needs to contact the FBI as this is not just one or two people. It's big time.
Ebay doesn't care about laws or morals, they only care about money. And publicity, of course, which is why they slobber publicly all over organizations that fight counterfeiting, but behind the scenes allow greedy executives and managers to block what pathetic remnent is left of Ebay's Trust & Safety from removing any counterfeit listings by high volume sellers -
LOOKING AT YOU, "UNCLE" G !!! Too bad Vogue and all those other publications don't know what REALLY goes on behind the scenes at Ebay.
As for
Coach, they only care when the counterfeits are ripping off current styles and costing them potential sales. They close down a few hundred websites but other than a few FBI raids they don't seem to care at all about older bags, they made their money on those styles long ago and it's ancient history.
Compare that to what Chanel and LV did several years ago to sites like MyPurseWorld - not only did they shut the websites down but they actually filed suit against every site owner or partner they could find that was living in or had property in the US and they nailed them for the full monetary penalty allowed under the US Anti-Counterfeiting statutes, in most cases we're talking dollar amounts in 6 or 7 figures. I don't know how much of it they managed to collect, hopefully enough to pay the attornies and detectives, but it sure brought the hammer down on many websites that were selling that cwap, and probably cost a few crooks a boatload of money. So that's why most fakes-selling websites are now hosted in China and run by Chinese, even if in some cases there are US citizens hidden behind the curtain and pulling the strings.
As for the millions of fakes coming in by boat every year, it's a problem that's almost impossible to stop. US Customs can physically check maybe 1 percent of those shipments, and the distribution networks are massive and well hidden. A few times a year they'll nail one or two of the big fish but there are always more to take their place. And the crooks who sell them at the retail level are cannon fodder, they're all replaceable and the higher-ups don't care if they're arrested since the small retail-level sellers don't know who's running things at the top anyway. Just like in the Mafia and the old Communist Party organizations, they only know the people in the cell right above them. They're like the immigrants who sell fakes on Canal Street, so what if they get thrown in jail? They're ignorant and expendable, and if they talk, they can't reveal much.
Add in all the local level crime syndicates and the street gangs who have found that it's a lot safer selling fake purses than drugs, and the FBI, US Customs, and Homeland Security would have to have at least ten times as many agents working on the problem as they do now just to make any kind of dent in it. That's one reason why they don't give a lot of attention to the small sellers in places like Ebay.
Too bad the Heads-Up-Butts members of the US Congress don't grow a pair and pass a law making it a felony to BUY a counterfeit - it wouldn't stop the problem but at least it would slow it down a bit. But with the court system and jails as jammed as they already are, it will never happen. Too bad, I think Nancy Grace would look stunning in Prison Orange.
