Episode 12 Fake Britain


Episode 12

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Transcript


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

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Welcome to Fake Britain.

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Police!

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-Get down! Get down!

-Get on the floor, now!

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Put your hands behind your back now!

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Here at the Fake Britain house, things might look familiar,

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but don't be taken in because this is a house that's filled with fakes.

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In this series, I'll be revealing the counterfeits,

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copies and cons that are flooding the market, fooling the public,

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making money for the criminals and maybe even putting you in danger.

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We'll be investigating those fraudsters who are cashing in by

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selling us something that isn't real

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and we'll be showing you how to avoid falling for a fake.

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Today on Fake Britain, the counterfeit shampoo hitting

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our high streets and the damage it can cause to those who use it.

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You'd itch so vigorously, it would make a certain patch bleed.

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We reveal the fake scanners that have

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infiltrated Britain's security industry.

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This will be the difference between life and death in some cases.

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And the counterfeit candles burning a hole in your pocket.

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They spat and they crackled. They were dangerous.

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The UK hair care industry is big business.

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We're spending nearly £1.5 billion a year,

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looking after our crowning glories.

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But if you were spending your money on these products,

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that promised to hydrate, clean,

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make your hair glossy or control dandruff, well, you'd be wasting it.

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Every single one is a flaky fake. And that's not all.

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As well as parting with your cash for a counterfeit,

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there could be worse to come.

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One of Britain's biggest

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and best selling shampoo brands is Head & Shoulders.

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Since it hit the shelves in 1961...

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The most effective dandruff shampoo you can buy.

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..this famous anti-dandruff treatment has ranked among the UK's top five

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hair products.

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But now, it seems the fakers want to soak up some of the action.

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Leanne McLean from Cornwall Trading Standards

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is on the trail of suspected counterfeit Head & Shoulders.

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The previous day, they made spot checks on local stores

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and they may have landed some fakes.

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Yesterday, we carried out a seizure at two stores, one in Falmouth,

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one in Liskeard. And that was Devon Trading Standards,

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there's another shop on their patch which I've asked them

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to go in to and just make sure all the products are off sale.

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The stores in question belong to one of the south west's largest

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discount chains, Trago Mills.

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The previous day,

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Trading Standards seized around 160 bottles of suspected

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counterfeit Head & Shoulders from two stores,

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including this one in picturesque Falmouth.

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So, today, with colleague Ben, Leanne's making spot-check

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purchases at other discount shops in the area.

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They're concerned that other bargain outlets could be using

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the same supplier.

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We had a complaint about a lady

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who purchased some Head & Shoulders shampoo,

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so we're specifically today looking for any Head & Shoulders

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products or any other cosmetic products that look suspect

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and if we find any, then we will seize them from the shelves

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and send them off for further analysis.

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The person who sparked off the investigation was Sharon,

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when she bought what she thought was some bargain priced

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Head & Shoulders from another discount chain,

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the 99p Store in St Austell.

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I'd been using Head & Shoulders for four years previously

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and obviously when the 99p Stores opened, bargain.

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But instead of fighting dandruff,

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Sharon's Head & Shoulders seemed to do the exact opposite.

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After the third use,

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I kind of noticed that I was getting dandruff and that after like a day

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or so, it would be itchy and then it started to get extremely sore.

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After using it again for...

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I think it was about two weeks,

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it still wasn't any better.

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Sharon seemed to have an allergic reaction to the Head & Shoulders

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brand she'd always loved and trusted.

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But the symptoms that came next were a real cause for concern.

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You'd itch so vigorously, it would make a certain patch bleed.

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I was quite angry

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to think that something that I'm paying my money for is

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making me sore.

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I kind of figured then that something wasn't right with it

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and decided to e-mail the 99p Store.

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I got back quite a short reply, just to say,

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"please pass along the barcodes".

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So I did that and I never heard anything back at all.

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Nothing whatsoever.

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It was at this point that Sharon turned to Trading Standards.

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They collected two suspect bottles she'd bought and sent them

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off for analysis.

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Weeks later, it was confirmed - she'd bought counterfeits.

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With today's spot purchases completed,

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Trading Standards Officers Leanne and Ben head back to base.

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Here, they bag up the samples they've taken from three major

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discount stores in the last two days.

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They will be sent off to the lab for chemical analysis as well,

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to confirm 100% as to whether they are genuine or counterfeit products.

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We should get that back in about a week

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and that should confirm or deny our suspicions.

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Later, Cornwall Trading Standards reveal their results.

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And Fake Britain reveals exactly what's in the bottle.

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What you're essentially putting on to your face and skin

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and that of your family and loved ones is junk.

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We've all seen things like these.

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They're used to scan us at airports, sports events and music concerts,

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checking to see we're not carrying something we shouldn't.

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Safety and security is a serious business

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and that's what these scanners are designed to ensure,

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so you may be alarmed to discover that while this one is real... BUZZER

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this almost identical one is a fake.

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BEEP

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These are on sale right now and they could be putting lives at risk.

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Security is big business.

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The global industry for services

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and devices is predicted to rise to £88 billion by 2019.

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Part of any security team's arsenal

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is one of these metal detecting wands.

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The first of these was designed for the Los Angeles Olympic Games

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in 1984 and it's been used in

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numerous security settings ever since.

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But, now, the fakers have got their eye on this product's success.

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They're doing exact copies and when I say exact,

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they are so close, you really cannot tell the difference.

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We can't tell the difference, until we, either turn them on,

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or look inside them.

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We've had confirmed fake ones being used in music festivals,

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erm, in warehouses, erm, blue-chip companies, security firms.

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Now, that's a potential time bomb, because we now have lots

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and lots of fake items out there being used by professionals

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and they have no idea they're using a fake super scanner.

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Is seems most of the counterfeits are being sold online

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and Nigel is going to show us how clever the fakers have been.

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Here we have the fake super scanner and also a genuine super scanner

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and, as you can see, the construction, extremely similar.

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Every tiny little detail is copied.

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When you look very closely, though, you can

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tell everything is creaking and the whole thing is loose.

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How good is the fake at detecting a metallic object that could do

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some damage, like this knife?

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A genuine super scanner, you can see, we are picking it up,

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a good 40, 50 cm away.

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If we now take the fake unit, at 40, 50 cm, nothing, absolutely nothing.

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It's only when we get closer, we are now just getting a signal.

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Its performance is extremely poor, by comparison.

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You're not going to pick up this object on a lot of occasions.

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Well, that's not good enough. It's got to pick it up every single time.

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Fake Britain decided to test this counterfeit security

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scanner in London.

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In the last year, there have been 11,000 knife-related offences

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and just over 1,500 firearms incidents in the city.

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Like many of the capital's late-night music venues,

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Hootananny's takes security very seriously.

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To help in this battle to keep their customers safe,

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they use genuine security wands.

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So, to put the fake security wand to the test, we'll plant

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some potentially dangerous objects on our lucky target, Matt.

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Later on, he'll visit Hootananny's with a group of friends.

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We have a Swiss Army penknife, which is not classed as an offensive

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weapon, however, could inflict a lot of damage

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in a number of different ways.

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First up, Nigel puts the knife in place.

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That's perfect.

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Next up, he has a replica gun.

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It is an internationally recognised test piece

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for the security industry.

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It's an imitation single-shot gun.

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Weapons in place, next stop for our target is the venue.

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Will the fake pass our security test and detect the weapons?

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Nigel hands over the fake security wand to the experienced door staff.

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They haven't been told whether they're using the counterfeit,

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or the genuine product.

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He sits nearby to monitor the fake's performance.

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Meanwhile, Matt and his pals arrive in line.

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I'm surprised at the distance, though.

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He's getting very, very close to the body.

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So the fake has to be used closer to the body than normal.

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I can only presume he's having to do this

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because the performance is nowhere near as good as the genuine item.

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Now it's time for our target, Matt, with his concealed weapons.

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BEEPING

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That's his belt.

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The fake seems to be picking up large objects.

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Phone.

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But not, so far, the knife or the gun.

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BEEPING

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I think he might be picking up the shoelace eyelets.

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Seems like the fake's found something.

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The shoelace eyelets are aluminium.

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And inadvertently, it's actually led him to the fake gun.

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The counterfeit scanner's uncovered Matt's replica gun,

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but not the knife.

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That's a serious breach of security.

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Potentially, you've got somebody walking around with a knife

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in a nightclub. Not good.

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And extremely worrying.

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But before Matt can do any real damage,

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the real superscanner's brought out

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to reveal what he's really hiding.

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BEEP

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LONG BEEP

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Here we go. Ooh, straight to it.

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Ha.

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Yeah, there we go.

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That was a huge, huge signal which you could hardly miss.

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He's found it, he's got it.

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This could be the difference between life and death in some cases.

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The difference between picking up an offensive weapon, potentially

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a gun, a knife, a CS gas canister, or not picking it up at all.

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And that's... The potential for that is quite serious.

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Earlier, we saw Cornwall Trading Standards on the trail of fake

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Head & Shoulders shampoo for sale in discount chains.

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Trading Standards sent off samples of suspected fakes.

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Now they have the results back from the manufacturer.

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We sent off a representative sample of 14 bottles.

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Seven of those came back as being counterfeit,

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which is a 50% fail rate,

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which I think shows the scale of the problem we have here

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with counterfeit cosmetic products.

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But it's the quality of the counterfeit packaging

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that's appalled Cornwall Trading Standards.

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This makes it difficult for shoppers and the shops to spot the fakes.

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They are extremely good counterfeits.

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They look almost identical to the real thing.

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It's not just one small part of the Head & Shoulders

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set of shampoos, it's every different type

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they are managing to counterfeit now and counterfeit very effectively.

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Samples of the 160 bottles seized from local discount chain Trago Mills

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all turned out to be counterfeit, but Trading Standards sympathise

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with the difficulties that even some retailers have in spotting the fakes.

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In this instance, the copies were so incredibly good,

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the store in our opinion had done everything that it could

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to make sure that it wasn't selling counterfeits and as such,

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we have closed the investigation against the store that sold it

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by way of providing them with advice

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on how to potentially spot counterfeits in the future.

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Trago Mills told us they've been...

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They say...

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They say...

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But because of the danger to public health,

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the Cornwall Trading Standards investigation remains wide open

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to find out who supplied the retailers

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with the counterfeit products in the first place.

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Even though these bottles look convincing on the outside,

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the manufacturer, Procter & Gamble, has sent Leanne

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and her team some data about what could be lurking on the inside.

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With this particular counterfeit batch of Head & Shoulders shampoo,

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they've told us there could be irritation to your breathing,

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it could be harmful if you swallow any of the product,

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it could be irritating to your skin...

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They say here, "a risk of serious damage to your eyes."

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They've also said it's potentially toxic to wildlife

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should it make it into any river courses.

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It's quite a serious issue, this.

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This isn't just a cheap product that you're paying too much for.

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This could cause you serious damage

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and serious health implications for the rest of your life.

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But it's not just shoppers in Cornwall

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who've risked their health by using fake shampoo.

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Our investigation takes us across the Irish Sea,

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500 miles away to Antrim in Northern Ireland.

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It was at this B&M store ten months previously,

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that Nicole Patterson bought a bottle of Head & Shoulders.

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She used it to wash the hair of her five-year-old daughter, Imogen.

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The next day after using it,

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it looked like there were particles of paint in her hair.

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It wasn't until the second time that there were instant speckles

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over her hair.

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Afterwards, Imogen ended up with the scalp of her head

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sort of peeling away.

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It wasn't like wee small bits of dandruff, it was quite big flakes.

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But it wasn't the only symptom troubling five-year-old Imogen.

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I said, "Is it sore anywhere?"

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She just said, "Mummy, it's really itchy."

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It wasn't just a wee scratch like that, it was actually going

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mad into the head, you know, and scratching like crazy.

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When I had looked and even pulled parts of her hair over,

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you could see the big flakes coming out.

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Nearly a year on, Nicole believes her daughter still has symptoms.

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Well, now in Imogen's hair, you can actually see, like,

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speckles of flaky skin coming away.

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You know, it is constant, just coming out from the scalp.

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It just seems to be an ongoing problem.

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Nicole's now considering taking her daughter to a dermatologist.

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The bottle of Head& Shoulders she bought at B&M was confirmed

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to be counterfeit.

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I think whenever you go to a reputable store,

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you don't expect to walk in and buy counterfeit goods. You don't.

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And that does make me really angry, the fact that I went in

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and I bought something that was counterfeit and actually used it.

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So Nicole made a complaint to Northern Ireland Trading Standards

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and within weeks, officers had seized counterfeit shampoo

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at 15 discount stores across the region.

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We seized almost 2,000 bottles of the illegal product.

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We suspect, though, that there's quite a lot of counterfeit shampoo

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that appeared right throughout Northern Ireland that quite possibly

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has been sold to consumers from these high street retail premises.

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This batch was seized from seven shops belonging to the large

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UK discount chain Home Bargains.

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But Trading Standards also made seizures from eight stores

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belonging to the chain where Nicole bought her shampoo, B&M.

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Again, this is more counterfeit Head & Shoulders product.

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Quite a sizable amount.

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We've seized almost 600 bottles from this retailer alone.

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B&M Retail told us they were...

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..from one of the wholesale suppliers of this product.

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They say...

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..across all B&M stores.

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..of the parties responsible further up the supply chain.

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Fake Britain has sent samples of a bottle

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bought by Nicole at B&M in Northern Ireland and a batch of counterfeits

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seized by Cornwall Trading Standards for chemical analysis.

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Over two weeks,

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Loughborough University's Chemistry department has been testing

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our fake samples and comparing them with the genuine product.

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They tested for the all-important zinc compound.

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This is the active ingredient in the genuine Head & Shoulders

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that battles dandruff.

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There's practically no zinc in the sample.

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What this means is if you bought this shampoo to control dandruff

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or to treat dandruff on your hair, it's actually going to do nothing.

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So not only is this shampoo counterfeit,

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it's also completely useless.

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More alarmingly in the fakes, Professor Thomas

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and his team have uncovered a substance called lilial.

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It's a cosmetic ingredient that has health effects.

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It's a skin sensitizer and it could hurt you if you're allergic to it.

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Under EU regulations,

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a known allergen like lilial must be strictly labelled.

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This substance can cause contact dermatitis.

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If you picked this counterfeit up and one of your family was sensitive

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to this product, to this molecule here, it would hurt you.

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It would injure you.

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You would need a trip to the doctor.

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But it doesn't stop there.

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In the sample that Nicole bought, Loughborough have found another

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chemical that causes concern and it's also not labelled on the bottle.

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What we've just found here at ten times the level

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that we've seen anything else is diethyl phthalate.

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These are gender-bender chemicals.

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They affect reproductive health, certainly in animal studies.

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You wouldn't want them in products that

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you are putting into close contact with your children.

0:21:200:21:23

All the retailers involved in selling counterfeits told us

0:21:260:21:28

they were unaware that they were selling fakes

0:21:280:21:31

and that they were shocked to find them in the supply chain.

0:21:310:21:34

None of these retail stores faced prosecution.

0:21:340:21:37

99p Stores told us they were...

0:21:400:21:42

They say as soon as Trading Standards

0:21:460:21:48

brought the matter to their attention...

0:21:480:21:50

They say they...

0:21:540:21:55

Home Bargains told us they've been...

0:22:010:22:03

They say they had...

0:22:160:22:18

They say...

0:22:270:22:28

They say it's clear that...

0:22:370:22:38

Professor Thomas is also alarmed by the fact that fake shampoo

0:22:460:22:50

is being sold on the high street.

0:22:500:22:52

They're throwing in mixtures of chemicals in an unregulated,

0:22:520:22:56

uncontrolled, unmanaged way.

0:22:560:22:57

And what you're essentially putting onto your face

0:22:570:22:59

and skin, and that of your family and loved ones, is junk.

0:22:590:23:02

When it comes to a good night in, there are a few key ingredients.

0:23:080:23:13

A good meal, a little bit of mood music, soft lighting...

0:23:130:23:17

And the best way to get that is through one of these -

0:23:170:23:19

a luxury scented candle.

0:23:190:23:21

It's an increasingly popular product which appeals to people like

0:23:220:23:25

new mum Susie Alton from Lydham in Shropshire.

0:23:250:23:30

When she recently spotted some well-priced small luxury

0:23:300:23:33

scented candles online,

0:23:330:23:35

she thought they would make ideal presents for her friends.

0:23:350:23:38

The candles were advertised as being made

0:23:380:23:41

by upmarket British beauty label Jo Malone.

0:23:410:23:43

They were advertised as genuine Jo Malone candles

0:23:460:23:48

and the seller had quite a few of them

0:23:480:23:50

and the picture looked like proper Jo Malone standards.

0:23:500:23:55

And they just looked absolutely beautiful.

0:23:550:23:58

At 17.95 each, the candles weren't cheap,

0:23:580:24:01

but it was still less than their usual retail price of £22.

0:24:010:24:05

She bought four.

0:24:050:24:07

Susie put the candles into action.

0:24:070:24:10

I decided to have a romantic night in and I decided to put these

0:24:110:24:14

candles out across the windowsill with some other candles which I had.

0:24:140:24:17

So I lit them and the smell... It smelt like furniture polish.

0:24:170:24:21

What happened was they spat and they crackled. They were dangerous.

0:24:210:24:25

Luckily, buying through PayPal, Susie had purchase insurance

0:24:270:24:31

and she managed to get her money back and the seller barred.

0:24:310:24:35

But she's not the only candle lover to be duped.

0:24:350:24:38

In fact, Jo Malone candles have become a key brand

0:24:380:24:41

for the fakers to rip off,

0:24:410:24:43

as Sussex Police recently found out.

0:24:430:24:45

They were tipped off about some suspect Jo Malone candles

0:24:470:24:50

being sold at a local craft fair.

0:24:500:24:53

Graham Miles eventually raided the house of the people running

0:24:530:24:57

the stall and he was astonished by what he found.

0:24:570:25:01

Everything on this table are the items that were seized

0:25:030:25:06

from the home of just one of our suspects.

0:25:060:25:07

Lots and lots of counterfeit candles very much like this.

0:25:070:25:11

I think it's 250 odd.

0:25:120:25:14

These larger Jo Malone candles usually retail for £39 each,

0:25:140:25:19

but the fakes are considerably cheaper to produce.

0:25:190:25:23

Graham estimates it at around £3.50 a pop.

0:25:230:25:26

In here, you can see reels and reels of labels, various types.

0:25:270:25:32

On this one, you've got the arrow that tells you to open up the label

0:25:320:25:35

so you can see more information inside,

0:25:350:25:37

but there is nothing behind it, there's no back to that label.

0:25:370:25:40

And that's one way you can tell that it's a counterfeit.

0:25:400:25:42

And the candle fakers had big plans for the future.

0:25:420:25:46

Along with labels and the candles themselves,

0:25:460:25:49

police found a staggering 26 boxes of metal lids.

0:25:490:25:53

This is the kind of quantity we're looking at.

0:25:530:25:55

Metal lids, all engraved with the Jo Malone name.

0:25:550:25:58

Something like 5,000 of them.

0:25:580:26:02

This person was operating on a large scale.

0:26:020:26:05

And was really making some quite significant profit.

0:26:050:26:08

The people Graham arrested in connection with the candles were

0:26:080:26:11

running a secret cottage industry.

0:26:110:26:13

They'd order cheap, unbranded candles from a manufacturer, get fake labels

0:26:130:26:19

printed and then add the specially engraved lids

0:26:190:26:21

and ribbons to make the candles appear like the real thing.

0:26:210:26:25

But it's not just financially that you could be losing out.

0:26:260:26:30

The candles aren't just cheap imitations, they can be dangerous.

0:26:300:26:34

Previous tests by Trading Standards on fake Jo Malones

0:26:340:26:38

have seen the glass the candle comes in explode when lit.

0:26:380:26:42

Today, though, the law has finally caught up with the counterfeiters

0:26:420:26:46

that Graham's team has been investigating.

0:26:460:26:49

At Lewes Crown Court in Sussex, one of them

0:26:490:26:52

received a 12-month sentence for conspiracy to manufacture

0:26:520:26:55

and another received 270 hours of community service

0:26:550:26:59

for conspiracy to sell counterfeit goods.

0:26:590:27:02

It is sending a message. As with any kind of sentencing,

0:27:040:27:06

it's to put other people off from doing it.

0:27:060:27:08

It does affect everybody, the breaching of trademark offences.

0:27:080:27:11

We all buy branded goods.

0:27:110:27:12

If those goods are getting manufactured by others,

0:27:120:27:15

it impacts upon the price we pay,

0:27:150:27:16

it impacts upon the quality of the product we get.

0:27:160:27:18

I think it's important

0:27:180:27:20

that people are put off from counterfeiting those things.

0:27:200:27:22

That's all from Fake Britain. Goodbye.

0:27:280:27:30

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