Episode 11 Fake Britain

Welcome to a world where nothing is quite as it seems.

Welcome to Fake Britain.

Get down, get down on the floor now!

Put your hands behind your back now!

In this series I'm going to be investigating the criminals

who make their money at your expense.

And I'm going to be showing you how not to get ripped off.

Today on Fake Britain, we've been given exclusive access to the country's biggest postal hub.

For the first time, cameras are allowed inside to film

the extraordinary range of fake goods flooding into the UK.

This isn't a one-off shipment - this is organised criminal activity

and a systematic attack in an attempt to flood the UK.

We tell the tale of the two old-fashioned criminals forging

the works of world famous street artist, Banksy,

and the collector turned sleuth who solved the case.

I saw some common names, common e-mail addresses, common user IDs on the messageboards.

So I started to work out who, more or less, was responsible for selling these fakes.

And we reveal the fake lonely hearts

fleecing pensioners out of thousands.

She was conning my father, there was no ifs and buts.

It's an early morning in the Midlands.

Officers from Staffordshire Trading Standards

and the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment, UKIE, are getting ready

for a raid on a man suspected of running a service known as "flashing".

Flashing is modifying games consoles, such as Xboxes,

and hard drives to play fake computer games.

The team are briefed, and set off to the address.

We are off to the house, where we believe there may be a factory flashing or chipping,

modifying the consoles to enable them to play copied games.

Once at the property, officers from all agencies move in fast.

There is no answer, and they get ready to force the door.

Yes, got him, looking through the window.

Then the man is sighted.

I am from the Trading Standards, I have a warrant here to enter these premises

and look for evidence of offences under the Copyright and Patents Act.

Officers enter the property looking for evidence of flashing games consoles.

The man is quick to deny the offence.

-BLEEP

-you're out of luck here today.

-I'm out of luck? Why's that, mate?

-Cos I don't even do it.

-All right.

The Trading Standards officer cautions the suspect.

You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned,

something which you later rely on in court.

-Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand that?

-Yes.

-OK.

The gaming industry is one of the recent successes of British business.

It generates £400 billion per year, twice as much as the music industry.

However, gaming piracy is threatening this economic growth

at a critical time for the country, as John explains.

This is costing the games industry millions of pounds in lost sales.

Not just the industry, but the Government in lost taxes,

the retailers in lost sales and in these straitened times,

success or failure of a company can depend on the money they make from making this game

and if they don't make a profit, well, we don't get any more games.

The team have found plenty of evidence of piracy inside.

As another parcel arrives for the man, he tells our film crew to leave.

-You...

-BLEEP!

John and his team load the seizures into the car.

We have some Xbox 360 drives, which have been sent in.

People have taken them out of their console and sent those in to be flashed.

And then we have a number of copied games

and paperwork relating to sales as well.

So at the moment it's quite a lot and there's still more to come -

the computer for starters.

This is the PC that he was using.

It's a good day's work for the team.

The total value of goods seized amounts to almost £10,000.

The games consoles and computer will be forensically examined.

The man could face a hefty fine, or even prison.

Later on we re-join John as his team uncover a man

running a factory in his front room

modifying consoles and churning out pirate games.

An aspiring businessman - he's even offering a 10% discount.

The next flash of your console, he will do it for only £10!

Experts believe up to 50% of works sold on the art market could be fake.

History is littered with audacious attempts to fool collectors.

Ian Lawson is the head of the Metropolitan Police's world-famous Art and Antiques Unit.

It's his job to track down the fakers.

The unit was formed in 1969.

I believe it was formed after a large robbery involving some stamps.

The division is famous for its expertise in solving cases of counterfeit art.

The primary role of the Art and Antiques Unit is the protection the London art market

and the protection of London museums.

We deal with a number of international enquiries,

we have a number of countries contacting us on a daily basis

attempting to identify where their stolen artwork is.

Over the years, Ian has discovered the extraordinary lengths

fraudsters will go to to fake art and fool the market.

Top of their list is giving their forgeries a believable history, or provenance.

Provenance is the history of the piece -

where it's been from the time it was created to the time it's being sold.

This is one of the paintings created by John Myatt,

a famous fraudster going back to the late 1990s.

You can see the back of the frame the canvas is very aged.

You can see the gallery so "Ben Nicholson, Still Life, 1956, Ohana Gallery".

All these were made by the fraudsters

and put on the back of the paintings to make them look more authentic.

And they would create that ageing by perhaps leaving it outside, or dipping it in tea,

or whatever they can do to create this particular ageing.

The forgers are even prepared to forge ancient works of art

stretching back thousands of years.

This Egyptian mask was alleged to be from 1,000 BC.

In fact it was made in 2008.

This was created by John Andrews and sold for £5,000.

And accompanied with this was a certificate of authenticity.

John Andrews stated that it had actually been acquired from an Egyptian museum in Cairo.

He also created and produced this letter,

purportedly authenticated by Wallace Budge,

of the British Museum, dated 18th August 1920.

And it says the item is a genuine sarcophagus belonging to a young woman

who died during one of the dynasties in Egypt.

One of the unit's most famous recent cases centred on forger Shaun Greenhalgh

and his family who sold his artwork.

Working from a shed in Bolton,

Shaun went to incredible lengths to re-create

lost masterpieces and sell them as the genuine items

for an enormous profit,

as the tale of the Risley Parks Lanx, a lost Roman artefact, illustrates.

The story was that in the 1800s this item was found in Derbyshire

by some farm workers, and as payment for their work,

they divvied this item up into 26 different separate pieces.

The actual plate was lost, but Greenhalgh heard about the artefact and set about to recreate it.

He actually created it in 26 pieces and soldered them together,

and that was to fit in with the story that was published.

And what he did is he melted down Roman coins and silver

to give it an authentic look,

so if it was examined, the silver would actually stand up to any scrutiny.

And if genuine, this probably would have been worth in the region of £1 million.

But every forger slips up eventually.

Greenhalgh was finally caught out when he misspelt a cuneiform inscription

on a fake Assyrian relief he had created.

He created three of these and took them to the British Museum,

but unfortunately there was a very slight spelling mistake in the writing at the top.

And this was picked up by experts at the British Museum.

They identified this spelling mistake, the police were informed.

The value of the three stone reliefs -

which allegedly date back to Assyrian times

was about £350,000 if the sale had gone through.

We conducted an investigation, and we started to identify a number of other objects

that had been sold by Shaun Greenhalgh.

These included a goose allegedly by Barbara Hepworth,

a piece by Lowry, and a bust of American President, John Adams,

which sold through a major London auction house for £97,000.

Greenhalgh was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail.

Parents, George and Olive, received suspended sentences for their part in the fraud.

Coming up, we reveal the forgery case involving the world-famous street artist, Banksy,

and the enthusiast who helped solve it.

It's early morning in the Midlands,

and inside Sandwell Police Station, officers from UKIE

the computer games industry's anti-piracy body -

and Sandwell Trading Standards are getting ready for a raid.

Their target is suspected of modifying games consoles, such as Xboxes, to play fake copied games.

As soon as we actually get in there and we secure the individuals,

we will be looking at securing the IT systems.

Making sure nothing can actually be turned off.

He is also offering what we believe to be one of the first cyberlockers in the country,

which is why the warrant for today is so important.

A cyberlocker is an illegal online area

full of copied computer games to download.

The potential damage to legitimate companies from these sites is huge.

The team set off while it's still dark, hoping to take today's target by surprise.

They arrive in force and wake up the suspect.

-We've got a warrant to search the address.

-For what?

-I'll tell you when I come in.

We have identified yourself as flashing gaming consoles.

You do not have to say anything,

but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

The team immediately find evidence of piracy and fake games.

Proper flashing system, it's all set up as we go in there, consoles on the side.

He's got Jungleflash on his machine, he's told us, and there's loads of copied games.

In the front room there is setup for flashing Xbox 360 consoles

and the computer machine was operating when we went in there.

The team have discovered a mini factory in the man's front room.

He appears to be burning counterfeit games,

as well as modifying games consoles to play them.

John suspects the man is then selling the games online.

The copied games are all well packaged, so there is a good indication he is in fact

supplying those copied games, along with the flashed consoles,

so you've got the whole operation if you like.

It's getting heated inside and the man's wife tells our film crew to stop filming.

Dude, turn the camera off! You've been told!

The suspect and his partner are rather upset about the matter,

but that is the consequence if you engage in these illegal activities.

The copying equipment and evidence is brought out.

Some Xbox 360 consoles, and an Xbox 360 drive.

There is quite a large amount of copied games here, which presumably will turn out to be

his masters from which he made illegal copies.

This is what we call a burning tower which is used to make the copied games.

The computer will be examined for evidence of cyberlocker activities.

John also finds business cards that offer discount rates on flashing, which is illegal.

He is saying that the next flash of your console,

he will do it for only £10!

A special offer, which is an illegal business incentive, obviously.

It's offering a professional service in the area in which he lives and surrounding areas, it says.

He is obviously into this business in a big way.

All the evidence will be taken away and examined.

The man is later cautioned for offences under the Trademark Act

and the Copyright Designs and Patents Act.

We have had jail sentences, suspended jail sentences and hefty fines.

These issues can be quite serious,

because of the amounts of money people make doing this thing.

It's a very successful operation for the team

and John has a clear message for cyber criminals.

If you think you're online and you're safe, then you're not.

We will find you and we will take appropriate action,

linking in with the enforcement agencies such as Trading Standards and police.

We've all heard tales of women being defrauded online

by those pretending to be US soldiers.

But in Haywards Heath, Sussex,

a man's relationship with a notorious serial faker

was about to destroy a family, deliver financial ruin

and have a devastating impact on his health.

Sacha Thompson has always been close to her grandad.

When her grandma died, the family saw even more of him.

But one day, James Saunders stopped coming round.

Sacha's mum, Penny, popped round to see if he was OK.

He was at home, but his car was nowhere to be seen.

He used to have a black Golf GTI car and it had vanished.

So my mum said to him, "Where's your car?"

And he said, "I've lent it to a friend."

Now we knew they didn't have many friends locally,

so my mum said, "What friend?" and he said, "Danielle".

James had posted a message in a lonely hearts column

and befriended a lady calling herself Danielle.

But it was to turn out Danielle was not who she seemed.

The family discovered she had asked to borrow James' car six weeks earlier, but had not returned it.

Apparently it was in a lockup garage in London.

Because she had been taken ill,

and had been taken to a private hospital at Gatwick.

He told me she was having a kidney transplant.

I didn't believe any of it.

The car was eventually returned,

but there was more evidence the new relationship was bad news.

Penny happened to check her dad's bank balance at a cashpoint.

She was horrified by what she saw.

When my mother died, we had this arrangement that I'd be on his bank account with him.

This particular day I went to the bank, pulled off the mini statement,

and the balance said £3.

I phoned him up immediately and said, "Whatever's happening?"

There should have been thousands in the bank account,

but £500 had been withdrawn continuously over a series of days.

James confirmed he had given the money to Danielle.

She'd told him she was waiting for a large inheritance.

The family were very worried and decided to visit him

to warn him about Danielle.

But there was no reasoning with him.

He was so horrible to us.

It was like it wasn't him,

it was like he was brain-washed by this woman.

But it was to get worse.

Some months later, Penny received a phone call from the housing association where James lived.

They wanted to know who the woman was who was living in James' flat.

She did mention Danielle, and I thought, "Oh God, it's the same woman."

The lady told Penny James had not paid his rent for six months

and owed the company £3,000.

Worse still, Danielle had told them James was gambling

and stealing from shops.

Sacha and her mum could not believe what they were hearing.

My grandad had never gambled in his life.

My nan done the Lottery, and that wasn't his thing.

He'd been in the army, he has always had a good, well paid job,

he had savings. You know, it was ridiculous.

The family was convinced Danielle was taking James for a ride

taking his money and blaming him as his debts mounted up.

Penny received another phone call to tell her his Council Tax

had not been paid for over six months.

She was conning my father, there were no ifs and buts.

At this stage there was definitely something suspicious about her.

Penny discovered Danielle was subjecting James to unbelievable cruelty.

Despite him being 83 and having skin cancer,

she was forcing him out at 7 o'clock every morning

to wander about in the sun until it was dark.

I'd bumped into him in Brighton and I went over to him

his face was bright red, sunburnt.

I said, "You're burnt to a crisp, what's happened to you?"

Later on we found out the reasons she had been sending him out every day

is she'd been ordering from catalogues and online websites,

clothing, all sorts of different items,

under false names - Danielle Ryan, Louise Ryan,

even Louise Saunders, my grandad's name.

One day Penny saw her dad on a bus.

She hauled him off and confronted him.

He sort of broke down and cried, and I said, "What on earth is happening?"

And I think it all just flooded over him.

He did get out of his wallet this IOU that Danielle had written out

that she owed him £10,000.

He also said to me he had noticed from her bank card this other name, Loraine Upritchard.

Sacha was at the computer when her mum phoned to say what had happened.

She entered the new name, Loraine Upritchard, into a search engine.

She could not believe the results.

Bang! Up came all the national press, magazines - conwoman, gold digger.

I started to read the story

and I just felt sicker and sicker and sicker.

Every fear that we'd had over the last 18 months was there

in front of me in black and white.

Loraine Upritchard was a serial conwoman - a fake lonely heart.

In 2009, she had swindled pensioner Leonard Hesling out of thousands of pounds

after meeting him through another romance column.

She was caught when he hired a private detective to track her down.

The next morning Sacha and her mum marched James to the police station.

We hadn't been there very long and suddenly the CID were involved.

And "Crumbs, what's all this about?"

Apparently, Loraine Upritchard was wanted by the police.

Dave Springett is the Detective Constable who took charge of the case.

Loraine Upritchard had absconded from her previous conviction, an 18-month community order,

and was a wanted woman.

We realised this was a persistent fraudster

that needed to be dealt with quickly and properly.

The police made their way to James' flat,

but Upritchard had become suspicious by his absence and left.

The faker was on the run.

Meanwhile, Penny took her dad to the bank to sort out his finances.

There was nothing left in his account,

but the bank presented them with two bounced cheques,

each for over £7,000.

But there was something odd about them.

The writing was not my father's writing at all.

It was too big, he writes very small, so it wasn't his.

On the back of the cheque was a stamp for a bed and breakfast in Haywards Heath.

It was a clue to where Loraine Upritchard was hiding.

She had stolen James' chequebook and tried to use it to cash cheques at the B&B.

The police raced down there and arrested her.

During the court case another man admitted Upritchard

had taken £30,000 from him.

The faker was jailed for three years.

The judge described her as a "wicked and despicable gold-digging con artist".

When she got sentenced to three years, everybody was ecstatic.

We were just like, "You messed with the wrong family this time."

This is a very sinister offence.

The suspect has lived with the victim for the best part of 12 months.

We were very glad that Miss Upritchard received the three-year custodial sentence.

Upritchard was jailed for fraudulently signing the bounced cheques,

but in total the Thomsons know she took a lot more money from James.

He earns so much a month from his pension.

Every single penny of that was taken, probably for about 18 months.

He didn't pay his rent, he didn't pay his utility bills, he didn't pay his phone bill.

She sold the car, he bought her a car.

She had a credit card of £13,000,

she had got him to get her a bank loan of £13,000,

we have rounded it up to be

in the region of £60,000.

Colin Woodcock is head of the Anti-Fraud Unit at the Special Organised Crime Agency.

He is an expert in this kind of fakery.

We have recently completed some work with Leicester University

which shows us that probably

200,000 people can be affected a year in the UK.

Research has also revealed that anyone young or old, male or female - may be targeted,

and vast sums of money can be involved.

We've had one loss of nearly a quarter of a million pounds.

And whilst that is the biggest,

there are plenty that go towards that -

several hundred thousand pounds.

The impact on victims once they realise they've been conned can be huge.

It's cruel, it's heartless, it's a wicked crime.

It goes a lot beyond just losing money.

There is a huge shame that is perceived in this.

The results of finding out that you've been defrauded in love

is exactly the same as a bereavement.

The realisation Loraine Upritchard was a fake was too much for James Saunders

and his health worsened.

It's been hard for him to realise not everybody's what they say they are.

He was very vulnerable, always crying.

I think he felt, you know, that he had been stupid.

He was devastated, he saw a counsellor,

he was on anti-depressants, he was a broken man.

And my mum had to help him pick up the pieces,

and deal with all the bailiffs, all the debt.

For a year afterwards, James' health continued to worsen.

One day, he collapsed in the street and suffered a massive heart attack.

He was taken to hospital and died four days later.

After all the pain he had suffered, the family believe it was a relief for him to escape it.

Being here today, with him now gone, I feel he is at peace.

He is with my nan and he is certainly out of the clutches

of any other women like Loraine Anne Upritchard.

For people like James, using lonely hearts columns

and the internet to try and find love,

Colin Woodcock has some important advice.

Lonely hearts columns, anything like that where you're trying to meet someone,

people have to take sensible precautions.

Tell people where you've gone,

hand on the mobile phone numbers and e-mails of people.

If you've met somebody online, you stay talking on the website,

the dating site,

stay within that chat area, do not give your details out.

And the biggest thing of all is do not send any money.

There is no reason on earth why you should send money to somebody

to justify a relationship.

It's just before dawn, and inside this police station different agencies have gathered

to combat the growing problem of dealers selling fake perfume online.

Trading Standards officer, Nigel Cotton, has caught the scent of a fake fragrance dealer

and this morning he and colleague, Rose, are joining forces with police

to raid the man's property,

where he is believed to be running his lucrative online business and keeping his supplies.

If you look at the item in particular, it is a poor quality finish.

A member of the public has passed Nigel a dodgy bottle of scent bought from the dealer.

It's part of the evidence Trading Standards need to carry out the operation.

The bottle is not quite full

and the code numbers correspond to known counterfeit code numbers.

The team are unsure of the size of he operation they will find, or who is involved.

As a result, they are taking no chances.

They race across town to the suspect's address.

Once at the property, Nigel sees signs of movement,

but no-one is answering the door.

Something doesn't smell right.

Fearing the suspect may be escaping through the back,

officers move to cover the rear of the property.

He's not, but the team are concerned he could be upstairs destroying evidence.

The officer calls for specialist door-breaking equipment.

Can you open the door?

Eventually a lady does answer the door,

but not the male suspect Nigel is looking for.

Morning, I'm from Trading Standards.

I'm afraid I've got an entry warrant to come in.

Can I step in please?

Our camera team follow Nigel inside, but the lady refuses us entry.

Inside the house, Nigel and the officers locate the suspected faker,

believed to be running the online company selling the fake perfume.

Upstairs in a bedroom,

we've found several boxes of the counterfeit goods we're looking for.

The individual has told us there are some counterfeit goods in the car,

so we're just going to have a look in there now.

She immediately finds what she is searching for.

It looks as though there's some remnants of some packaging here.

There are some boxes of perfume.

Quite clearly the Paco Rabanne.

Rose also discovers what appears to be orders from customers for counterfeit perfume.

In the car, we've got some pieces of paper

that are clearly receipts and order numbers

for more of the counterfeit product.

So we'll be taking all that as well.

Rose finds a number of different branded perfumes.

All are thought to be counterfeit.

She logs each item individually, while inside Nigel continues to question the suspect

thought to be behind the racket.

It's not long before all the evidence is brought out to the car,

ready to be taken away and examined by the team.

These sorts of hauls are being found

by police and Trading Standards across the country.

They are evidence of a huge new burgeoning industry in counterfeit perfume -

sold online through websites, but run from suburban houses like this.

The gentleman was served with a warrant.

We then conducted a search of the property.

He took us to an area of the house where a number of boxes were stored.

If you were to check his website, you'd see he advertises a vast amount of branded perfumes.

£60 to £70 pounds for a bottle of Paco Rabanne for instance, and we've probably got 30 bottles here.

That totals almost £2,000.

When you take into account his orders down the year, he's probably made a nice tidy sum out of it.

But the man is unlikely to come out of this smelling of roses.

Fakery of this kind can carry a severe sentence, as Nigel reveals.

It does carry quite a hefty penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment

and obviously if they get caught they will be punished by Trading Standards.

It's a good days work for Nigel and the team.

But before the man can be charged, they have to be sure the goods he is selling are fake.

The suspect items are brought here to Staffordshire Scientific Services.

Testing the goods will be expert, John Lovatt.

John has purchased a genuine perfume to compare with the suspect bottles to determine they are fake.

First, he compares the packaging. The fake is on the right.

The type of gold used on the two different boxes appears to be different.

The genuine product has a much lighter gold.

On the right product, we don't have the flammable symbol.

Next, John compares the dispensers.

We have again a different type of gold.

The paint on the potentially fake product has come away.

Just from the packaging and bottles, there are big differences.

Next, John must compare the liquids inside.

To do so, John places a sample from the real perfume and one from the suspect scent

in a hi-tech comparison machine.

The results are delivered straight to his computer.

The process will also reveal any dangerous substances present, like methanol or chloroform.

Luckily in this instance, there doesn't appear to be anything dangerous in the product.

But there are big differences between the two samples.

We can see on the screen the top profile is the bottle brought in by Trading Standards

and the bottom profile is from a genuine article.

The differences in profiles means that they will potentially smell differently

and if it was the genuine product, the manufacturers wouldn't allow to happen.

The brand is too important for them to do that.

John has a theory about how this other perfume was created.

What may have happened here is they have taken a number of cheaper products

and put them together and sold it under this brand name.

Based on the differences we have found with the packaging and the contents of the bottles,

this product is a fake.

It's official. The suspect goods are fake. That's an offence under the Trademark Act.

Trading Standards now intend to prosecute the dealer.

His products stink and people across Britain are being ripped off.

It's time for Nigel and the team to take them off the market for good.

Welcome to Britain's largest postal hub.

It handles hundreds of thousands of packages every week.

Chris Bagley is head of the UK Border Agency team at the hub.

It is his team's responsibility to spot fake goods coming into Britain.

A hole in the bank balance, not a hole in one.

It says, "Made in Italy" there. Well, they're not, these are manufactured in China.

Chris and his team are on the frontline in the battle against counterfeiters

desperate to get their fake goods into the UK.

This area here represents about three or four days' worth of activity

by UKBA officers here at the postal hub

and it has all been checked by the rights holders and it has technically now been declared as fake.

The range of goods Chris finds is enormous and many of the products

could be dangerous if they got through to consumers.

Copies of the Gillette Mach 3 razors, produced in China.

Gillette have confirmed that these are counterfeit. Razors are dangerous, quite clearly.

There is no way of knowing how these are produced, whether they meet those standards.

The colouration on the packet is slightly different from the original.

But for most people they wouldn't know until they use the product by which point it is too late.

For Chris and his team, some of the fake goods are easy to spot.

We've got a selection of brands in here, the main one though is these Burberry branded goods.

As you can see, if you have a look at this product,

it is of very poor quality, very plasticized.

You see these joints here where the leather meets the studs, all very poorly put together.

With other items, it's more difficult to determine whether they are counterfeit or not.

Here we've got these Beats headphones by Dr Dre. Really, really popular.

As you can see from the packaging, it all looks pretty convincing.

We got the manufacturers down, they said no, they are fakes.

The quality of the actual speakers and these hinges is inferior.

When these are manufactured and they are fake, they don't invest the money in the component parts,

people might think they're wearing the real deal, but you know they are actually being conned.

In each case of suspected fakery, a rep from the real company

will come down and confirm the goods are fake.

Amongst the astonishing haul are some extraordinary examples of fakery.

Here we've got GHDs. We've been tackling these for some time now.

Every time GHD bring out a new style, a new colour,

we are seeing the fake version within a matter of a couple of weeks.

They are that quick at responding to new lines.

But again the fakes can be very dangerous.

Often on these they either don't work properly, or they get too hot

and there is a risk of either burning the scalp, or melting the hair.

Sometimes the fakers disguise the actual contents of the packages to bypass customs checks.

It's Chris and his team's job to spot these cunningly disguised counterfeit goods.

This is the component parts for making up pouches of hand-rolling tobacco.

So what you see here are the Golden Virginia sleeves.

And then in another we've got the actual tobacco.

So the tobacco comes in bulk, these are actually disguised as tea.

I don't know whether you can see this on the actual packages.

This is packaged as tea, but when we make an incision in it, it's clearly not tea.

It's hand-rolling tobacco. There is not a tealeaf in sight.

This is about 20 kilos in weight. This is worth about £6,000.

Chris is seeing shipments like this almost every day.

That means his team has intercepted millions of pounds worth of counterfeit tobacco this year alone.

This isn't a one-off shipment, this is organised criminal activity

and a systematic attack in an attempt to flood the UK with this counterfeit tobacco.

Chris and his team are also engaged in seizing weapons and Class A drugs,

but, as he reveals, all these criminal activities are linked.

People don't realise there is a clear link between organised crime groups using the proceeds

and the profits from fake counterfeit products and re-investing that

into trafficking Class A drugs, people, or weapons.

They don't care about the consumer. It's all about profit.

So whether it's Class A drugs one week, or counterfeit shoes, bags or makeup the next,

it's irrelevant to them.

All they're interested in is the money.

Street art has rocketed in popularity in recent years and can now have huge commercial value.

No one is more famous in this area than graffiti artist Banksy,

who shot to worldwide fame throughout the past decade.

Prints of his work are now sold for up to £100,000.

But with fame comes fakery, as Patrick Nguyen,

a street art collector turned amateur detective, discovered.

Could I get a small latte, please?

Patrick received a tip-off that fake copies of a particular Banksy screenprint

were being sold on the internet as genuine limited editions.

I was informed about a counterfeit screenprint by Banksy called Laugh Now,

it features a monkey with a sandwich board that says: "Laugh now, but one day we'll be in charge."

I posted a warning on a message board where there are a lot of people interested in street art.

Patrick was flooded with e-mails from people concerned they had bought a fake version

of this print and began to gather together information about the sales and the people behind them.

The prints were always being sold for slightly less than market value.

In order to generate loads of sales.

If the market value at the time was worth for an unsigned print £1,500,

they would sell it for a "buy it now" price for about £1,200.

So they were selling them very, very quickly. Many of them had bought them on eBay.

I started to put together a dossier of details of these sales of what turned to be fakes.

As Patrick gathered the information, he discovered many more prints were being faked

and he started to see recurring details in the sales.

I saw some common names and also common e-mail addresses, common user IDs on the message boards,

so I started to work out who, more or less, was responsible for selling these fakes.

Patrick worked out the fraudsters were using multiple online identities

to recommend themselves as trustworthy sellers.

What they were doing was creating many user IDs and more or less having conversation with themselves,

basically backing each other up, and saying, "Hey, this guy is great to deal with."

One of Patrick's friends had been sold a fake print.

So he confronted the men and they agreed to meet him and give him the money back.

Whenever there was a problem, or doubts as to the authenticity of the works they were buying,

they would repay them immediately in order to keep them quiet.

So that there would not be any noise on the message boards.

Patrick met them in a pub behind Victoria Station in London.

He got the money back, snatched a photo of one of one of the men,

and passed all the info he'd gathered to Ian Lawson

at the Met Police's Art and Antiques Unit.

We had the prints looked at by the authenticating body,

a company called Pictures on Walls,

identified that they were fake and then the investigation began.

What we have here is a Banksy Gulf Sale print, a very popular print.

You have the Banksy tag in the corner here,

we have the limited edition number

and you also have a forged Banksy signature as well.

All these items are fake, the print is a reproduction,

it is a fake print.

The Banksy tag has been stamped on, the limited edition number

has been handwritten on and the signature is forged.

The fraudsters were also providing fake documents

to create the vital provenance for the pieces.

TomTom is a gallery that in about 2003, 2004 sold Banksy prints.

But the suspects created this document on their computers,

printed out blank receipts, then dated,

put the print they were intending to sell and signed it with a false signature.

Using Patrick's pack of information, Ian traced the fraud to Eastbourne.

Ultimately, the money was going into one large Paypal account

and we were able to trace the money,

and identify who the two fraudsters were.

Early one morning, Ian paid them a visit.

We found a large quantity of evidence fake Banksy prints,

the blank Banksy prints.

We had tracings with the limited edition numbers on.

We found fake provenance documentation and we took away their computers

and we found evidence on those suggesting they had sold a large quantity of prints.

The fake prints had been made by simply copying genuine prints at a local printing shop.

The fraudsters would then add all the extra details to them.

Grant Champkins-Howard and Lee Parker were given 240 hours community service

and slapped with a restraining order for selling anything on the internet.

The judge described them as "a couple of old fashioned conmen".

If there was satisfaction it may have been initially when they were picked up by the police.

The problem with counterfeits is that it does affect the confidence in the market,

it devalues the existing prints that are out there.

The case caused Banksy to set up a new company to authenticate his works, Pest Control.

They gave us this message:

That's all from Fake Britain today. Bye for now.