What are the legal implications of carrying (not buying) a fake bag?

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#16
So they actually do that? LoL I would so want that job. :drool: I wonder how much training it takes to be able to identify a fake. I know I see them but I'm not an expert and I'm sure you would have to be. I'm sure I would single-handily rid my town of a good percentage of the fake bags I see.
 
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#17
devilish_angel said:
You mentioned the police was yelling??? Wow. So he must be far from you. Far, meaning, not near enough to scrutinize the said Chanel purse. And yet he was able to tell it was a fake. Amazing how even police are educated like TPF people to authenticate bags. Haha. Kidding.:tup:
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Lol - no no...yelling does not indicate that he was far away from us. He was about 2 feet when he started yelling, he grabbed my friends arm.

And No, I don't believe that he was winding us up. They more so can tell that her bags are fake because...well if you've ever been to Rome, we were right by St. Peter's Square (The Vatican) and there are just rows of men from I believe Nigeria who have come up to Italy to sell these fake purses (and other fake knock offs) so when the Carabinieri come they all start running - it's like the running of the bulls in Spain - only the running of the fake purse salesmen. It's pretty funny to watch - well until we got cornered by the undercover cops lol.

And then got followed home by the creepy purse dude who kept yelling at us for turning her goods over the the police. (As she hadn't yet given him 10 euros for one of them).

It was a very interesting day lol.
 
#18
Like everyone else said in the U.S. it's not illegal to purchase a fake. But, if you are going though a U.S. airport esp. for international flights and have fake merchandise it can be confiscated and you can be fined for copyright infringement... But, to be honest this rarely happens and usually you need several obvious items like several Rolex watches in order to get busted. Also, if you're are caught purchasing a fake in Italy or France you can definitely be heavily fined and reported just as heavily as the seller.
 
#20
I also saw the fake bag sellers near the Vatican a couple of years ago, kismet. I found it hard to believe that anybody would buy their merchandise. It was absolutely horrible. Most of the people I saw trying to sell this stuff were Nigerian. I suppose it was the only way they could make a living. Poor-looking people also tried to clean our windscreen at traffic-lights.
 
#21
kismet86 said:
And No, I don't believe that he was winding us up. They more so can tell that her bags are fake because...well if you've ever been to Rome, we were right by St. Peter's Square (The Vatican) and there are just rows of men from I believe Nigeria who have come up to Italy to sell these fake purses (and other fake knock offs) so when the Carabinieri come they all start running - it's like the running of the bulls in Spain - only the running of the fake purse salesmen. It's pretty funny to watch - well until we got cornered by the undercover cops lol.
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This happens in NYC around Christmas time. The sidewalks in all the tourist areas are lined with guys selling fake purses on blankets. They have these little Mexican guys as lookouts & sometimes you'll see them run down the street shouting the warning & all the sales guys grab the corners of their blankets, sling the load over their back & run off in a stampede. Hilarious.
 
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#22
In Austria there are so many tourists carrying their own foreign, fake LV, Chanel, Celine, etc. that street police does not even bother with them as they all come and go again in a few days anyway (generally, locals either can afford the real thing, as there are plenty of reliable preloved shops, or they just are not into top line designer but into Kors, Longchamp, Liebeskind or Kipling).

Street blanket vendors of obvious fakes (manteros, as they call them in Spain) are really few and far between here because there is simply no market - most people value solid quality, even of non-brand, over logos, and they are ecologically minded and conscious of risking skin rashes and worse if they buy stuff with dodgy dyes and materials not subject to official controls. And those who *are* into logos they still expect quality so most use the preloved market, which is thriving.
 
#24
BauHausFrau said:
This happens in NYC around Christmas time. The sidewalks in all the tourist areas are lined with guys selling fake purses on blankets. They have these little Mexican guys as lookouts & sometimes you'll see them run down the street shouting the warning & all the sales guys grab the corners of their blankets, sling the load over their back & run off in a stampede. Hilarious.
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Lol
 
#25
In France , buying, selling and carrying fakes is illegal.
At the airports, the Customs Officers are very strict.
If they find something suspicious on you or in your luggage, they look at the item very carefully.
They are trained. They look at everything, tags... Finishings especially.
I once had a problem with a Christian Dior T shirt which was in my luggage.
The lady officer looked at it very carefully. It was authentic and she then acknowledged it.
Had it been a counterfeit, I would have been fined twice the price of the authentic item.
The T shirt would have been confiscated and later destroyed.
A friend of mine was even sent to court for importing a fake Chanel watch.
In the street, the "flying "Customs Officers can stop you.
But... I have never heard of anyone being.... stopped!

In the airports we have posters:
Fausse Cartier, vrai casier= fake Cartier real police record
A real lady doesńt buy counterfeits!
 
#26
Mariapia said:
In France , buying, selling and carrying fakes is illegal.
At the airports, the Customs Officers are very strict.
If they find something suspicious on you or in your luggage, they look at the item very carefully.
They are trained. They look at everything, tags... Finishings especially.
I once had a problem with a Christian Dior T shirt which was in my luggage.
The lady officer looked at it very carefully. It was authentic and she then acknowledged it.
Had it been a counterfeit, I would have been fined twice the price of the authentic item.
The T shirt would have been confiscated and later destroyed.
A friend of mine was even sent to court for importing a fake Chanel watch.
In the street, the "flying "Customs Officers can stop you.
But... I have never heard of anyone being.... stopped!

In the airports we have posters:
Fausse Cartier, vrai casier= fake Cartier real police record
A real lady doesńt buy counterfeits!
Click to expand...



Wow, it's very good to know!!!
 
#27
Mariapia said:
In France , buying, selling and carrying fakes is illegal.
At the airports, the Customs Officers are very strict.
If they find something suspicious on you or in your luggage, they look at the item very carefully.
They are trained. They look at everything, tags... Finishings especially.
I once had a problem with a Christian Dior T shirt which was in my luggage.
The lady officer looked at it very carefully. It was authentic and she then acknowledged it.
Had it been a counterfeit, I would have been fined twice the price of the authentic item.
The T shirt would have been confiscated and later destroyed.
A friend of mine was even sent to court for importing a fake Chanel watch.
In the street, the "flying "Customs Officers can stop you.
But... I have never heard of anyone being.... stopped!

In the airports we have posters:
Fausse Cartier, vrai casier= fake Cartier real police record
A real lady doesńt buy counterfeits!
Click to expand...

That's really interesting to know actually. How did they find out about the t-shirt though? Can the label be seen in x-ray machine or do they actually search the whole luggage each time ?
 
#28
I am sorry, I disagree with carriers being liable. That goes against basic freedoms - maybe a person got it as a gift; maybe they didn't know it was fake. The sellers should be liable but not the people that use the said bag.
 
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#29
Sunshinediamond said:
That's really interesting to know actually. How did they find out about the t-shirt though? Can the label be seen in x-ray machine or do they actually search the whole luggage each time ?[/
I was coming back from Dubaï. The officers were probably looking for gold jewels and fake goods as usual.
They searched my luggage and the lady officer saw the CD tshirt. Asked me if I had bought it in the UAE.
I replied that I had bought it in France, she then inspected it carefully .
She looked at the stitchings in particular.
They dońt search everyone ´s luggage of course, most of the time it ´s random search....
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#30
gnomixa78 said:
I am sorry, I disagree with carriers being liable. That goes against basic freedoms - maybe a person got it as a gift; maybe they didn't know it was fake. The sellers should be liable but not the people that use the said bag.
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I have worked in law enforcement and basically its a case of (depending what country you are in) you are charged/infringed then it is up to you to prove that it is a real bag by receipts etc or to prove you genuinely believed you had bought a real bag.

Like if you say you bought your chanel jumbo flap on ebay for $200 and you just thought you got a good idea you will still have to pay up lol

Your regular beat police and even customs in most European cities could not care less about your handbags.

If you get stopped for a fake bag outside of an airport you would have to be extremely unlucky (like 99.99999% unlucky) as there are very few police that target this stuff.

Unless maybe if you are next to the ardo river in Florence lol




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