Episode 18 Fake Britain


Episode 18

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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! SHOUTING

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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, copies and cons

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that are flooding the market,

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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

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who are cashing in by 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,

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fake alcohol blighting Britain's pubs.

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This was actually found for sale behind the bar on an optic,

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and could actually kill you.

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Fake architects who could leave your renovation in ruins.

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They were stuck with this place that wasn't safe,

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and they had to pay tens of thousands of pounds to put it right.

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Fake art that's fleecing art lovers for millions of pounds every year.

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They say it was found in an attic in the 1960s, when in reality,

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it was probably made last year in China.

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And what's in your takeaway?

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Fake Britain lifts the lid on lamb kebabs.

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Looking at its label, I suspect the product is probably fake.

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Keys, wallet, jacket... Got everything.

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See, I'm off down the pub. Going to meet my friends.

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Might even have a drink or two.

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It's part of the British way of life.

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So, in a British pub, you can rely on being served the real thing...

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can't you?

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The black market industry for fake alcohol in Britain is now worth

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an estimated £1 billion,

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as sales for counterfeit wine and spirits are on the rise.

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We've seen before on Fake Britain knock-off booze being sold

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in local shops and off-licences up and down the country.

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We're going to be seizing this,

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because it isn't a whisky. It's fake.

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And we've seen just how dangerous these fake drinks can be.

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It contains high levels of methanol.

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This product needs to come off sale today.

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But in St Helens, Merseyside,

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Trading Standards officer Collette Rai has just uncovered

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a seriously shocking case of fake spirits,

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and one that showcases a terrifying trend -

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fakes being sold over the counter to pub customers.

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This is probably the largest operation

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that St Helens Trading Standards have been involved in.

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It all started

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when Environmental Health received complaints about a pub

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called the White House that was thought to be hoarding a stash

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of 1,500 empty beer kegs in the back yard.

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But Collette at Trading Standards suspected

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there could be more to this than met the eye.

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The pub was associated with low-level criminality, but I don't think

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any of us had any idea of the scale of what we were about to find.

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In the past, Trading Standards have dealt with pubs passing off

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cheaper spirits as premium brands as a way to bolster their profits,

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known in the trade as substitution.

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But as Collette and the team searched the White House pub,

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they quickly suspected a number of bottles for sale behind the bar

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might be fake -

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and they found a further stash

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of almost 1,000 potentially fake bottles

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boxed up in the flat above the pub.

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Trading Standards chief Darrell Wilson didn't waste any time

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getting the suspect spirits out of harm's way

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until they knew what they were dealing with.

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As you can see, this is everything that Collette and the team

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seized from the pub.

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This is Prince Consort vodka.

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There is such a brand as Prince Consort, so this is a fake, a copy,

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made to look very convincing, with all the labelling

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and the wording just as you'd expect on the original item.

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Even on the back of the bottle they go to the trouble of copying

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a duty stamp and a bar code.

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But this isn't genuine, it's fake.

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There was worse to come, as Darrell sent the fake Prince Consort vodka

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to be analysed at the lab.

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It contains industrial alcohol, which,

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if you were to consume this in any quantities, could make you very ill,

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and could actually kill you if you carried on drinking this.

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Sadly, over the last 10 years,

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there have been hundreds of deaths worldwide linked to fake alcohol.

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And as a result, we are all urged

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to examine the bottles we buy to check they're legit.

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But these fake spirits were being served to unsuspecting locals

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on a licensed premises by a landlord and landlady,

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Cedrick Fitzpatrick and Barbara Gallimore,

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so the customers had no control over what they were drinking.

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This was actually found for sale behind the bar, on an optic.

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This was actually being sold to customers, which is quite worrying

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when you consider that people just going to their local pub

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for a drink with their friends are actually being served

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something which certainly in any quantity can be quite dangerous.

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These fakers didn't stop there.

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The team also uncovered a bootleg brand called Revolution vodka,

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that purported to be produced for the discount supermarket chain Aldi.

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When we checked, they'd never heard of Revolution vodka.

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It's all part of the method to try and sell this to people.

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And there was a further bootleg brand of Scotch whisky

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that was also being sold in the White House.

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There is actually no real brand of Dexters. This is a fake brand.

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And they don't actually contain whisky.

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It's just a brown spirit, but it's not whisky.

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So, being fake, they're illegal.

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And obviously there's 500 bottles of this we seized.

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The pub was immediately shut down,

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and has quickly fallen into disrepair.

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The White House, as you can see, is now completely empty.

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It's boarded up. It's been closed for some time because the licensee

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lost the premises licence and so can no longer operate.

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It's a frightening revelation -

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900 bottles of potentially lethal fake spirits with a retail value

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of almost £50,000, all being sold from a pub.

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St Helens Trading Standards have seen substituted spirits in pubs,

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and we've seen fake alcohol in off-licences,

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but we've never seen it on sale in a pub before,

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and we've certainly never seen it in such quantities.

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This is the biggest stash of fake spirits we've seen in St Helens,

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and I'd suspect it's one of the larger ones in the country.

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In the UK, pubs are governed by strict licensing laws,

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and as St Helens councillor Seve Gomez-Aspron points out,

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if you can't trust a pub not to sell you fakes, who can you trust?

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It's important that the community should go out and be able

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to be trusting the people they're buying drink off,

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because you can end up in a vulnerable position.

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Selling fake alcohol has always been an issue,

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but more of a backstreet trade.

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I think when people do it under the banner of a reputable pub,

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it dupes the public into thinking it's someone they can trust.

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If they're buying that under that misapprehension,

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then it's totally unfair and the council and authorities

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should deal with it very severely.

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Thanks to the St Helens Trading Standards team,

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there's no more fake booze being traded from this public house.

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And for flogging the fakes,

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Cedrick Fitzpatrick received a nine-month prison sentence,

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Barbara Gallimore, a six-month custodial sentence,

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suspended for 12 months.

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I think the strong message that we need to send out is,

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if you dabble in fake booze,

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Trading Standards WILL come after you, they WILL prosecute you,

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and you WILL be punished for abusing their trust.

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Later, we discover that Dexters isn't the only phoney Scotch

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doing the rounds,

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and reveal the tricks they use to flog you the fakes.

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People will be buying this in the mistaken belief that it's Scotch.

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It's quite clearly a fake whisky.

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Look at these.

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They're architectural drawings,

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the plans for building work at someone's home.

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A lot of money is being spent on these,

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and much more on the actual work itself.

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Now, they look very complicated, very professional.

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More importantly,

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they were the start of someone getting the home they dreamed of.

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Can you imagine the problems

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if these were actually full of mistakes,

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and the architect who drew them up was a fake?

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After a short break,

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our national obsession with property is alive and well again,

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and many of us Brits are choosing to stay put and renovate the house

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we live in, rather than foot the cost of moving to a new one.

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But there have been scores of cases up and down the UK

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of homeowners who've put their faith in someone

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they think is a professional architect,

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but who turns out to be nothing more than an unqualified charlatan.

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The law states you can only use the term architect

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if you've registered with the Architects Registration Board,

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and it takes about seven years of education and training

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before this can happen.

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One person who's been on the receiving end of a fake is Frank.

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It's not his real name, but he's asked us not to reveal his identity.

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Never one to shy away from a challenge, Frank decided

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to self-build a loft conversion to transform his 1930s semi.

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I've always wanted to build a loft. It's always been an ambition of mine.

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So I understood the rough outline of what was required.

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So, before he started,

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Frank was looking for an architect to draw up some plans to work from.

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He saw an advert in the local paper.

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He was just one man working from home who showed me a bunch of plans,

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and I suppose he gave the impression that he would deliver what I asked.

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Convinced he'd met a fully qualified architect,

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Frank paid him around £900

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to design a loft conversion and produce the drawings he required.

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When they came through,

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it even stated on the planning paperwork that he WAS an architect.

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But when Frank spotted what he thought were some mistakes

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in the plans, the so-called architect started to get

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more and more evasive.

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It was very difficult for me to question him,

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because he's the font of all knowledge, isn't he? You know?

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He's the architect. He's the guy who knows it all. So I'm obviously wrong.

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Taking the architect's word as gospel,

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the plans were submitted to the council, and approved.

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But a few months later, Frank was about to discover a massive mistake.

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The big error with him was that on the planning side,

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with my particular property, being a semidetached,

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you're allowed 50 cubic square metres

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as a maximum enlargement of the roof volume,

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and he, unfortunately, made a miscalculation

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by 15% to 20%.

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The plan said it was 50 cubic metres,

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but in reality, it was only 40,

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hardly giving Frank any room to stand up in.

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It meant he'd just paid £900 for designs and planning approval

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that were completely unusable.

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Once the penny dropped, I thought,

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blimey, the reason why he never answered my questions,

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the reason why he became quite abusive,

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it all came true, that he didn't like me asking the questions

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because he couldn't answer them,

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which caused me a lot of time and stress and hassle.

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And it wasn't long before Frank realised he'd fallen for a fake.

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Yeah, I just felt ripped off, really.

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And the guy is out there, purporting to be something that he's not,

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and charging people accordingly.

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Frank did some digging on the internet

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and discovered that the supposed architect he'd hired

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had already been prosecuted for being a fake.

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They're thieving, aren't they, from people?

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They're deceiving and thieving.

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It's like if I have an ailment and I go and see a doctor,

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I want to see someone who's going to put me right. HE LAUGHS

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I don't want somebody purporting to be something they're not.

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Unfortunately it's not a one-off.

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This is a real issue in the UK, especially as we're finding

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we're doing more and more building work to improve our homes,

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and we're finding that people who are pretending to be architects

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are being prosecuted by the architectural registration board.

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Paula Higgins offers an advice service to homeowners,

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and recently helped a couple who got duped by a fake architect

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they'd hired for a major house renovation.

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They thought they were employing a professionally qualified architect.

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The architect, in passing, referred to himself as an architect.

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But after entrusting him to design and project manage

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a £200,000 refurbishment,

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they realised he was a fake, after glaring errors.

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He failed to get the required planning permission,

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or ensure that the extension was built to regulation.

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It was quite late in the build when the client actually realised

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that he was a fake architect,

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so they were stuck with this place that wasn't safe,

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wasn't properly signed off,

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and had been very difficult for them to sell,

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and they had to pay tens of thousands of pounds to put it right.

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We've got to point out that it is perfectly legal to offer services

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similar to that of an architect,

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like architectural drawing services, for example,

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as long as you don't use the term "architect".

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But unfortunately, genuine architect Philip Atkinson is seeing

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more and more unqualified fakers illegally using the term.

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It is a problem to us.

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It's a problem that we're seeing that is growing.

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If somebody employs a fake architect, it's a tragedy really,

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because people will be paying fees to somebody who isn't competent

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to deliver their project, and there are huge risks involved with that.

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And it's not only the homeowners that lose out.

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We're losing business to people who are giving a lesser service

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for the same fees.

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It's not just fake architects that can dash your dreams

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of creating a perfect property.

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In Wolverhampton,

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Trading Standards Officer Susan Bellingham has come across

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another type of faker

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cashing in on the house-renovating and building boom.

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This man, Harjit Singh, was offering his services

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as a planning agent -

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someone who arranges planning permission for a fee.

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One of his clients contacted the council

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when they suspected something wasn't quite right.

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It first came to light

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when planning services at Wolverhampton City Council

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received a planning notice

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that they suspected was a fake planning notice.

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Planning promotion is a legal requirement in the UK

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if you're building a new home

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or carrying out major changes to an existing one.

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Harjit Singh completed an application for a developer

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to build four bungalows, charging him a fee of £1,300.

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Eight weeks later, Mr Singh told the developer the permission

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had been granted, and gave him this document.

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The problem is, it was a fake.

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As you can see, it looks a genuine document,

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and consumers, householders,

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developers that are new to the business

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may think it is a genuine document.

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So on the surface, the document looks legit,

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with all the information you'd expect to find

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on a planning permission notice.

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The Wolverhampton City logo is on the top right-hand corner,

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which is the correct logo that the council uses.

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The name of the planning officer is correct.

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But when the planning officer ran a check on the reference number

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issued for this particular application,

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things took an unexpected turn.

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The reference number that's on the document,

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that actually was a reference number for a different property.

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Planning permission hadn't been authorised,

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and this was a fake document.

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Rather than submit a planning permission application

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for the developer, conman Harjit Singh had cut and pasted

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his own fake version of the notice,

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saying that the permission had been granted.

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As they say, the devil's in the detail,

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and there were a few things Harjit Singh didn't get right.

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This is a genuine planning permission document

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issued by Wolverhampton City Council,

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and this is one of the fraudulent fake planning commission documents.

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As you can see, Wolverhampton City Council appears on both.

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However, at the end page, there's a signature here,

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that's a fake signature of Nick Edwards,

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and he's never been director of planning and transportation.

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Now concerned that Mr Singh might be a serial faker,

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Susan did some checks

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to see if he'd ever submitted any planning applications,

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and found that he had.

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But one of these applications had been refused,

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and when she contacted the homeowners,

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it seems they were given paperwork that told a different story.

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The householder was under the impression that a two-storey

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extension could be built on the side of his house, which wasn't the case,

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because planning permission hadn't actually been authorised.

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But like the developer before them, they'd paid Mr Singh a fee,

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only to discover they'd been the target of a fake.

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The householders were very shocked

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when they found out that their planning permission notices

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were fake.

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They couldn't believe it and were very upset about it.

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In total, Susan discovered three people had been affected

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by Mr Singh's fake planning permission notices.

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But thanks to her investigation, they were all told

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about the fakes before they'd started any building work.

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It wasn't all good news.

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The consequences were that the projects were delayed.

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There were also cost implications,

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and the fact that they've got to go through the process again

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employing different planning agents or architects,

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and start almost from scratch.

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And as planning consultant Hayley Ellison knows,

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if you're building with fake planning permission,

0:17:520:17:54

ultimately the homeowner is going to pay the price.

0:17:540:17:58

If you don't obtain planning permission

0:17:580:17:59

and you do building work, the local planning authority

0:17:590:18:02

do have the powers to take enforcement action.

0:18:020:18:05

The extreme is that they'd ask you to revert the property

0:18:050:18:07

to how it was before, which obviously would be very costly.

0:18:070:18:10

As for Mr Singh, well, for faking planning permission notices,

0:18:100:18:14

he received a 12-month suspended prison sentence

0:18:140:18:17

and 200 hours' unpaid work.

0:18:170:18:19

He was also fined just shy of £8,000.

0:18:190:18:22

It's very concerning that there are people

0:18:220:18:24

who produce fake planning permission.

0:18:240:18:26

It's quite worrying that people would potentially inflict that

0:18:260:18:30

on a householder who doesn't really understand necessarily

0:18:300:18:33

what they're getting themselves into.

0:18:330:18:35

The Architects Registration Board told us

0:18:360:18:39

that if you want to check the credentials of an architect,

0:18:390:18:42

you can do so by visiting the board's website.

0:18:420:18:45

If you're concerned about a planning agent, you should contact

0:18:450:18:48

your local authority planning office for advice.

0:18:480:18:51

HE SNIFFS

0:18:570:18:58

Now, that is the smell of Saturday night.

0:18:580:19:00

We've looked at takeaway food that isn't everything it should be

0:19:000:19:03

on Fake Britain before.

0:19:030:19:05

The curries that are a con, the fish and chips that are a bit fishy,

0:19:050:19:09

and the pizzas that are faking it.

0:19:090:19:11

So all I've got left is the lamb kebabs.

0:19:110:19:13

And if I ordered lamb, the law says it must BE lamb.

0:19:130:19:17

I mean, what else COULD it be?

0:19:170:19:20

Kebabs are one of Britain's top takeaways.

0:19:230:19:26

In fact, we Brits are eating so many

0:19:260:19:28

that the industry is said to be worth about £2.2 billion.

0:19:280:19:33

That's a lot of doners.

0:19:330:19:35

Kebabs originated in Turkey, and in legitimate restaurants

0:19:350:19:39

like this award-winning establishment in north London,

0:19:390:19:42

you get the real thing -

0:19:420:19:43

kebabs that are made using either chicken or lamb.

0:19:430:19:47

But here's the thing.

0:19:470:19:49

Lamb kebabs are the most expensive to produce,

0:19:490:19:51

as wholesale prices for lamb meat

0:19:510:19:54

are almost twice that of beef or pork, at around £35 a kilo.

0:19:540:19:58

And there are kebab shops up and down the country

0:19:590:20:02

selling fake kebabs, swapping out the expensive lamb

0:20:020:20:05

and instead giving you cheaper meat, such as beef or pork.

0:20:050:20:09

It's 11am, near West Malling in Kent,

0:20:120:20:15

and county council Trading Standings officer Susan Harvey

0:20:150:20:19

is heading off to carry out a test purchase

0:20:190:20:21

on a local kebab shop that they suspect

0:20:210:20:24

is selling fake lamb doners.

0:20:240:20:26

Today we'll be taking a formal sample,

0:20:260:20:28

and this is basically just to see whether the product is fake.

0:20:280:20:31

You know, is it actually lamb, or has it got other meats in it?

0:20:310:20:34

Pretty straightforward, really.

0:20:350:20:37

Susan will buy a kebab,

0:20:370:20:38

and then have it analysed to find out what meat it contains.

0:20:380:20:42

If it turns out to be fake, the seller could face a hefty fine.

0:20:420:20:46

Now, Susan wants to get a sample of the lamb kebab

0:20:470:20:50

as if she was a regular customer,

0:20:500:20:52

so for now she's going to keep the fact she is with trading standards

0:20:520:20:56

on the QT,

0:20:560:20:57

which means the Fake Britain camera's going to loiter outside.

0:20:570:21:01

Can I have... a large lamb doner, please?

0:21:030:21:06

That's all, thank you.

0:21:060:21:08

And, with the sample in the bag, it's time for phase two.

0:21:080:21:11

I've purchased it.

0:21:120:21:14

I've just come out of the shop, and now we are going to go in

0:21:140:21:17

and I'll tell them who I am,

0:21:170:21:18

and then continue my inspection of the premises.

0:21:180:21:20

It was described on the menu board as a lamb doner kebab,

0:21:200:21:24

so therefore I would expect that to contain only lamb.

0:21:240:21:27

From the tip-off she's received,

0:21:270:21:29

Susan suspects she's got a fake lamb kebab, so she's going to have

0:21:290:21:33

a chat with the staff and have a butcher's around the shop.

0:21:330:21:36

-Hi, there. I'm from Kent County Council Trading Standards.

-Yep.

0:21:360:21:41

-OK, just came in and purchased the lamb doner kebab from you.

-Yep.

0:21:410:21:44

OK, what I'm here to do is to do a formal sample of the food,

0:21:440:21:48

because what we're going to be doing is checking for any other species.

0:21:480:21:51

-All right.

-So if it's got anything other than lamb in the kebabs, OK?

0:21:510:21:55

-OK.

-So I will need to come out round the back as well.

0:21:550:21:59

Susan knows the kebab shop could be buying the lamb meat in good faith,

0:21:590:22:03

and the meat could be mixed further up the supply chain,

0:22:030:22:06

so she wants to have a root around the kitchen for any evidence

0:22:060:22:09

that could be useful.

0:22:090:22:11

I'll just go out the back, really have a look at any documentation

0:22:110:22:15

or labelling they've got for that product, if they have any,

0:22:150:22:17

of course, for the product, still, or any details of the supply to them.

0:22:170:22:21

-Where is the best way through, through here?

-Yeah.

-Yeah? Thank you.

0:22:210:22:25

Out the back, Susan wants to have a closer look

0:22:250:22:28

at the packaging that the doner kebab came in.

0:22:280:22:31

When the kebab comes in to you, is there any wrapping,

0:22:310:22:35

is there any labelling or documentation

0:22:350:22:37

that you get with it, do you know?

0:22:370:22:39

-Yeah, yeah.

-Have you got one at the moment, in storage?

0:22:390:22:42

-I put it here.

-You've put it in the bin, have you? OK.

0:22:420:22:46

I'll have a look at that.

0:22:460:22:47

Susan's interested to see if the packing label contains

0:22:470:22:50

any information that might show if the kebabs on sale are fake.

0:22:500:22:54

At the top it does say "Mixed meat doner kebab",

0:22:560:22:59

so it leads me to conclude it does contain beef in there. OK?

0:22:590:23:02

Cos otherwise I would expect it to say "lamb doner kebab".

0:23:020:23:06

The kebab shop worker is looking anxious.

0:23:060:23:09

It's not surprising, since the label's ingredient list

0:23:090:23:13

makes Susan believe she may well have just bought a fake lamb kebab.

0:23:130:23:18

-It looks like it might be beef.

-No, it shouldn't... It's lamb.

0:23:180:23:20

Yeah, it's got lamb,

0:23:200:23:22

but there's something else written above there, isn't there?

0:23:220:23:25

-Do you understand what the issue is here?

-Yeah, yeah.

-So a lamb kebab...

0:23:250:23:28

-You need to find out what is inside.

-Exactly.

0:23:280:23:32

And it's difficult to read this,

0:23:320:23:34

but I think that possibly says it's got beef in it.

0:23:340:23:37

It looks like the supplier has labelled the meat correctly,

0:23:370:23:40

but the shop is selling mixed meat kebabs, advertising them as lamb.

0:23:400:23:45

Looking at its label, I suspect the product is probably fake,

0:23:450:23:48

which we obviously will need to confirm by speaking to the supplier

0:23:480:23:52

and also by the test that we get done by the public analyst,

0:23:520:23:55

because it looks to me as though it contains beef as well as lamb.

0:23:550:24:00

With the suspect kebab and label bagged and tagged...

0:24:000:24:03

-OK, thank you very much.

-No problem.

0:24:030:24:05

..Susan's work here is done.

0:24:050:24:07

Thank you.

0:24:070:24:09

So now that will just go straight back to the public analysts,

0:24:090:24:12

and then they will test it to look for the beef and lamb in there,

0:24:120:24:16

and they will get an idea of the percentages,

0:24:160:24:19

if there's more than one meat in there as well.

0:24:190:24:22

Back at base, chief tester Jon Griffin has analysed the lamb kebab

0:24:220:24:26

by checking the DNA to reveal what meat it contains,

0:24:260:24:30

and whether it's a fake.

0:24:300:24:33

There can be an array of meats in there,

0:24:330:24:35

or you might just find the one.

0:24:350:24:37

A couple of shakes of a test tube, and it's official.

0:24:370:24:40

The lamb kebab IS a fake.

0:24:400:24:42

It contained 42% beef,

0:24:440:24:46

and only 58% lamb.

0:24:460:24:49

And the restaurant that sold it is given a written warning

0:24:490:24:52

to ensure they stop selling fakes.

0:24:520:24:56

We have seen an increase in these things.

0:24:560:24:58

It has been at a consistent level. There is a misdescription concern,

0:24:580:25:01

and if they're what we're calling fake kebabs,

0:25:010:25:04

then the consumer is suffering from that point of view,

0:25:040:25:06

because they're not getting what they're paying for.

0:25:060:25:08

The consumer must know what they're buying,

0:25:080:25:11

that's the most important thing.

0:25:110:25:12

Earlier we saw how St Helens Trading Standards,

0:25:180:25:21

for the first time, uncovered a stash of fake spirits being sold

0:25:210:25:25

to unsuspecting customers in a licensed pub.

0:25:250:25:29

This is the biggest stash of fake spirits we've seen.

0:25:290:25:32

One of the brands on offer was a fake Scotch whisky.

0:25:320:25:35

It's just a spirit, a brown spirit. But it's not whisky.

0:25:350:25:39

Now, Scottish whisky, known as Scotch, is so popular,

0:25:390:25:43

it's a multibillion pound industry that employs over 45,000 Brits.

0:25:430:25:49

In one year alone, Scottish distilleries produce enough bottles

0:25:490:25:52

to stretch between New York and Edinburgh six times over.

0:25:520:25:55

Not that you'd want to do that.

0:25:550:25:57

Whisky writer and lecturer Charles MacLean has a nose

0:25:570:26:00

for the Scottish dram, and understands why it's so popular.

0:26:000:26:04

When you buy a bottle of Scotch whisky,

0:26:040:26:07

you're buying a hell of a lot more than liquor in a bottle.

0:26:070:26:10

You're buying craft, you're buying culture, you're buying history.

0:26:100:26:15

And if the whisky is not what it says it is,

0:26:150:26:20

it leads to disappointment.

0:26:200:26:22

And yes, you've guessed it,

0:26:220:26:24

there are disappointed drinkers up and down the UK,

0:26:240:26:27

as Scotch whisky has been targeted by the fakers.

0:26:270:26:31

And it's the job of Scottish Whisky Association lawyer Lindesay Low

0:26:310:26:35

to flush out the fakes.

0:26:350:26:37

Scotch whisky is defined by law.

0:26:390:26:41

There are very strict regulations regarding how it must be made,

0:26:410:26:45

and the industry is closely supervised by UK Customs

0:26:450:26:49

who make sure that people are playing by the rules.

0:26:490:26:52

In order to sell it as a genuine Scotch whisky,

0:26:530:26:56

there are certain boxes the drink has to tick,

0:26:560:27:00

and failure to do so will make it a fake.

0:27:000:27:03

Scotch whisky is a very pure and natural product.

0:27:030:27:05

There's only three raw materials that are used in its production,

0:27:050:27:08

and that's water, cereal and yeast.

0:27:080:27:11

Another important part of the production process,

0:27:110:27:13

it has to matured for at least three years in Scotland, in oak barrels.

0:27:130:27:18

The ageing of whisky in the wooden barrels is an expensive process,

0:27:180:27:22

and there are fakers out there trying to cash in

0:27:220:27:24

on the lucrative market by passing off substandard spirits

0:27:240:27:28

as a drop of the good old stuff.

0:27:280:27:31

When we come across fake Scotch whiskies, we generally find

0:27:310:27:34

that they consist of unaged, neutral spirits,

0:27:340:27:38

possibly with a small amount of genuine whisky added to them,

0:27:380:27:42

to give them a superficial appearance and flavour of the real thing.

0:27:420:27:46

And it's not just what's inside the bottle that is designed to dupe.

0:27:470:27:51

It's the bottles themselves.

0:27:510:27:53

OK, well, we've got a few bottles here that we've discovered in the UK,

0:27:540:27:58

and they're all fake whiskies.

0:27:580:27:59

The first of these is Dexter,

0:27:590:28:01

and this product was seen widely across England.

0:28:010:28:06

It's the fake brand we saw Merseyside Trading Standards

0:28:060:28:09

seize from the White House pub.

0:28:090:28:11

The Scottish Whisky Research Institute ran specific tests

0:28:110:28:15

on the liquid in the bottle that claims to be a Scottish whisky,

0:28:150:28:19

just to see whether it's been aged in oak barrels

0:28:190:28:22

or whether it's just a cheap fake.

0:28:220:28:24

Probably most importantly,

0:28:240:28:25

they've looked at the compounds that are present as a result

0:28:250:28:28

of it being aged in barrels, so we can tell from that it's not been aged

0:28:280:28:33

for three years as required, and therefore it can't be sold as whisky.

0:28:330:28:36

It also revealed that the liquid was a neutral, unaged alcoholic spirit,

0:28:360:28:40

most likely dyed to give it a similar colour to whisky.

0:28:400:28:44

It's quite clearly a fake whisky.

0:28:440:28:47

And it's not the only one.

0:28:480:28:50

In fact, over the last 10 years, Lindesay has seen 20 different

0:28:500:28:53

fake Scottish whisky brands being sold in Britain.

0:28:530:28:57

Here's one of his personal favourites.

0:28:570:28:59

This is another fake whisky.

0:28:590:29:01

Looking at it, it's got a lot of Scottish imagery,

0:29:010:29:04

it's got the Highland dancer. It's called Scottish Swordsman.

0:29:040:29:08

If you read the back label,

0:29:080:29:10

"..aged and blended in the Highlands in the old Scottish tradition."

0:29:100:29:13

But again, this is completely fake.

0:29:130:29:15

It's neutral, unaged alcohol, a far inferior product.

0:29:150:29:19

Genuine blended Scottish whisky retails from around £12 a bottle,

0:29:190:29:23

and the cost of producing it varies depending on how long

0:29:230:29:26

the liquid has aged for.

0:29:260:29:28

But a neutral, unaged spirit,

0:29:280:29:30

packaged as a fake Scotch like this Scottish Swordsman,

0:29:300:29:32

can be knocked up in a Del Boy distillery for significantly less.

0:29:320:29:37

There can be no doubt that people will be buying this

0:29:370:29:40

in the mistaken belief that it's Scotch.

0:29:400:29:43

And as Charles MacLean knows only too well,

0:29:430:29:45

it's the drinker's palate that ultimately pays the price.

0:29:450:29:49

These counterfeiters who can buy some very cheap-based spirit

0:29:490:29:53

and colour it up and stick it into a bottle,

0:29:530:29:56

is...from a flavour point of view, is disastrous.

0:29:560:30:01

But drinkers aren't the only ones to suffer.

0:30:010:30:04

Scotch whisky sells because it's a natural, high-quality,

0:30:070:30:10

iconic product.

0:30:100:30:12

If it's widely faked, we could lose that,

0:30:120:30:15

and it's something we probably wouldn't be able to get back.

0:30:150:30:17

Later, recycling's not always good.

0:30:190:30:22

Old bottles filled with botched Scotch.

0:30:220:30:25

You know, maybe it's single-cask washing-up liquid. I don't know.

0:30:250:30:28

But it's not the real deal.

0:30:280:30:30

Take a look at this. It's a name you might recognise.

0:30:350:30:38

LS Lowry. Famous for the "matchstick men" he created in industrial scenes

0:30:380:30:42

of life in the north-west of England where he lived,

0:30:420:30:46

he often made sketches like this on almost anything -

0:30:460:30:49

back of a napkin, or a postcard.

0:30:490:30:51

Look, here's another, signed "Lowry".

0:30:510:30:56

In fact, we've got a whole pile of them.

0:30:560:30:58

You guessed it, they're fakes.

0:30:580:31:00

If they were real, they could be worth thousands of pounds each.

0:31:000:31:04

When it comes to art, the fakers are everywhere.

0:31:040:31:07

From a Monet to a Michelangelo,

0:31:100:31:12

fake art has been around almost as long as art.

0:31:120:31:16

However, in recent years,

0:31:160:31:17

fake art has taken on a more sinister trend,

0:31:170:31:21

something art and antiques valuer Aubrey Dawson

0:31:210:31:23

is seeing a lot more of.

0:31:230:31:26

In the past,

0:31:260:31:27

a lot of paintings were forged with the intent of trying to deceive

0:31:270:31:30

the big museums, the big galleries,

0:31:300:31:32

and the people at the top of the art market.

0:31:320:31:35

Today, with the advent of the internet,

0:31:350:31:37

pictures are far more available to the people on the street.

0:31:370:31:41

So forgers and fakers are not focusing so much on the Rembrandts

0:31:410:31:44

on Monets, Picassos,

0:31:440:31:46

they're focusing on smaller artists who are much easier to fake,

0:31:460:31:49

lower prices, and as a result, people will buy them.

0:31:490:31:53

So, online fake art sellers trying to swindle art lovers

0:31:530:31:57

out of their hard-earned cash doesn't sound too good.

0:31:570:32:00

And what's worse, it looks like it's here to stay.

0:32:000:32:03

For the fraudster, it's big business.

0:32:030:32:06

We've seen a great influx from the Far East, so in some parts of China

0:32:060:32:10

there's whole cities dedicated to churning out fake paintings.

0:32:100:32:14

So the sellers say it was found in an attic in the 1960s,

0:32:140:32:18

when in reality, it was probably made last year in China.

0:32:180:32:21

One of the few living artists to be targeted by the fakers

0:32:210:32:25

is Ashley Jackson, a watercolour painter from Yorkshire.

0:32:250:32:29

There are people in life who want an easy way out.

0:32:290:32:33

And this is their easy way out. Fake everything.

0:32:330:32:36

To me, they're killing an industry.

0:32:360:32:38

And like a lot of things in the world of fakes,

0:32:410:32:43

it all began with a tip-off to Ashley's agent, Claudia.

0:32:430:32:47

We received a phone call to the gallery from an anonymous caller

0:32:470:32:51

advising us that Ashley Jackson's work was being sold

0:32:510:32:55

on an online auction site.

0:32:550:32:58

There is a genuine resale market for Ashley Jackson originals,

0:32:580:33:02

which can fetch tens of thousands of pounds -

0:33:020:33:05

but when Claudia had a thumb through the adverts,

0:33:050:33:08

she could tell something wasn't quite right.

0:33:080:33:10

This one, its title is saying

0:33:100:33:12

"Original Ashley Jackson watercolour signed 1972."

0:33:120:33:15

In terms of knowing it's a fake,

0:33:150:33:17

it's poor composition, and the signature's not Ashley's.

0:33:170:33:21

And it is just a poor, wishy-washy imitation.

0:33:210:33:25

If Claudia's eagle eye

0:33:250:33:27

wasn't enough to prove these paintings were fake,

0:33:270:33:30

it was a howler the fraudster made

0:33:300:33:32

which was the final nail in the coffin.

0:33:320:33:34

One of the later drawings he's done,

0:33:360:33:38

I think he found that the first one had sold so well

0:33:380:33:41

and that he'd reproduce a second one of the same image.

0:33:410:33:43

He's reproduced an image

0:33:430:33:45

and said it's an Ashley Jackson original watercolour.

0:33:450:33:47

His wording is that he's saying it is an original.

0:33:470:33:51

Now, the whole point of an original

0:33:510:33:53

is there is only one of them ever made.

0:33:530:33:55

It's got to be unique.

0:33:550:33:57

The bloke churning out this fake art clearly had difficulty

0:33:580:34:01

understanding that concept, as he faked the same image twice.

0:34:010:34:05

It's ridiculous to think that he could even feel

0:34:060:34:09

he could get away with it.

0:34:090:34:11

His forging days were numbered,

0:34:110:34:13

as Claudia and Ashley reported the fakes to the police,

0:34:130:34:16

and the fraudster was swiftly collared and given a caution

0:34:160:34:19

along with a lifetime ban from eBay to stop him selling any more fakes.

0:34:190:34:24

So when somebody says this is a faceless crime,

0:34:240:34:27

or a victimless crime, they're wrong. Totally wrong.

0:34:270:34:30

Because this person isn't just stealing his artwork

0:34:300:34:33

and his name, he's stealing his life.

0:34:330:34:35

And he's not the only thief.

0:34:350:34:37

The more popular Ashley Jackson has become,

0:34:370:34:40

the more fakes he's seen in circulation.

0:34:400:34:43

We get a lot of people coming to the gallery and saying,

0:34:430:34:45

"I've got an Ashley Jackson."

0:34:450:34:47

And I look at it, I'm sorry, sir, it ain't an Ashley Jackson,

0:34:470:34:50

because mine's got soul in it. That has got money in it.

0:34:500:34:54

Unfortunately the internet is awash with fake artwork.

0:34:540:34:58

Aubrey Dawson doesn't have to look far to find some suspect paintings,

0:34:580:35:02

and the usual array of tricks the fraudsters use to convince you

0:35:020:35:05

that the artwork is real.

0:35:050:35:07

So here we've got a lithograph by the really popular artist, Marc Chagall.

0:35:070:35:12

An original would go for around £3,000.

0:35:120:35:15

This seller's got a trick up his sleeve

0:35:160:35:18

to try and shift a shifty fake.

0:35:180:35:20

With it comes a little certificate of authenticity

0:35:200:35:23

from the National Art Guild, signed by a chap called George Kopel.

0:35:230:35:27

Looks very official. Looks very authentic.

0:35:270:35:31

This would give you confidence.

0:35:310:35:33

Certificates of authenticity,

0:35:330:35:35

along with a documented history known in the trade as provenance,

0:35:350:35:38

are the two main ways in which a buyer can feel confident

0:35:380:35:41

that a piece of art is genuine, unless of course THEY are fake.

0:35:410:35:45

I've done a bit of research

0:35:450:35:46

and the National Art Guild doesn't appear to exist,

0:35:460:35:49

and either does this chap George Kopel. An out-and-out fake.

0:35:490:35:52

So by attaching the certificate of authenticity,

0:35:540:35:57

the seller is trying to give a buyer confidence, trying to make him think

0:35:570:36:02

that this is a real picture, it's been seen by an expert,

0:36:020:36:05

it's definitely genuine, it's definitely legitimate.

0:36:050:36:08

It's an out-and-out fake.

0:36:080:36:09

But it isn't the only move that a faker will use

0:36:090:36:12

to pin you to a canvas.

0:36:120:36:15

Today Aubrey's off to meet author and lecturer Dr Richard Howells,

0:36:150:36:19

whose fascination with the fakes inspired him to purchase

0:36:190:36:22

a stack of artwork by the most faked British artist, LS Lowry.

0:36:220:36:27

-Aubrey!

-Richard, nice to see you.

0:36:270:36:29

-Come and have a look at these dodgy Lowrys.

-Let's go and have a look.

0:36:290:36:32

Over the last five years, Richard's bought around 25 or so

0:36:340:36:38

fake sketches online, sold as being by the great late Lowry.

0:36:380:36:43

And there are a number of different ways the fraudsters make these fakes

0:36:430:36:46

look like genuine artwork.

0:36:460:36:48

Some of these look very artificially aged.

0:36:480:36:51

I think you're spot on the money there.

0:36:510:36:53

-I mean, let's have a little look at this one here.

-Ah, yeah.

0:36:530:36:56

-That's a winner.

-So we've got a nice little industrial scene

0:36:560:36:59

with the tall chimneys, and what looks like some Earl Grey.

0:36:590:37:03

-Yeah!

-That's been...

0:37:030:37:05

So, the fakers use the classic "let's make it look old" trick.

0:37:060:37:10

If you look closely, though, there are some subtle mistakes.

0:37:100:37:13

If you have a closer look, you can actually see a little bit

0:37:130:37:16

of the original white paper there

0:37:160:37:18

-where they haven't quite got all the staining.

-Oh, yes!

0:37:180:37:20

Absolutely, because this has been stuck on, hasn't it?

0:37:200:37:23

This is just a modern, crisp bit of A4 paper.

0:37:230:37:26

Now, Lowry was notorious for producing sketches

0:37:260:37:28

on anything from scraps of paper to restaurant napkins.

0:37:280:37:32

It's estimated there are around 8,000 genuine Lowry sketches

0:37:320:37:36

in existence. So taking full advantage of this,

0:37:360:37:40

some of the fake art producers will go one step further

0:37:400:37:42

to convince you it was the work of the great man himself.

0:37:420:37:46

If we turn it over... It is quite possible

0:37:460:37:48

-that Lowry would have owned books like this.

-Yes.

0:37:480:37:50

So in your fantasy scenario, you're just picturing Lowry sitting there

0:37:500:37:53

in his living room, reading the book, and then going,

0:37:530:37:56

-"I have an idea."

-That's right.

0:37:560:37:57

It's plausible, it's telling what you want to hear, isn't it?

0:37:570:38:00

But the materials are only half the battle.

0:38:000:38:02

If a fake is to sell well,

0:38:020:38:04

it needs a good, old-fashioned story to go with it.

0:38:040:38:07

When you've bought some of these pictures, how are they described?

0:38:070:38:11

The standard pitch would be, "This was an old attic find in Salford."

0:38:110:38:16

"This turned up at a car-boot sale in Greater Manchester."

0:38:160:38:20

So the pieces purport to have been found in or near Salford,

0:38:200:38:24

which is where Lowry lived, to further convince you it's for real.

0:38:240:38:28

They are very clever,

0:38:280:38:30

-because they plant a little seed of hope in your mind.

-Yes.

0:38:300:38:33

"It was found in Manchester,"

0:38:330:38:35

-some sort of link to Salford in the 1950s, the 1960s.

-Yeah.

0:38:350:38:39

I mean, all these poor attics around the country.

0:38:390:38:41

They must be groaning under the weight of these things. Absolutely.

0:38:410:38:45

By faking the pictures' provenance,

0:38:450:38:47

or at least dangling the carrot

0:38:470:38:48

that you could be about to pick up an undiscovered gem,

0:38:480:38:51

all that fakers are really trying to do

0:38:510:38:53

is get their mitts on your money.

0:38:530:38:55

I've seen fakes exactly like this sold, and they're sold for big money.

0:38:550:38:59

-They're sold for £500, £1,000, £2,000.

-Whoa.

0:38:590:39:03

Richard may have bought his for fun,

0:39:030:39:05

but for anyone else thinking about buying artwork online, be warned.

0:39:050:39:08

Your Manet may not be worth much MONET.

0:39:080:39:11

Earlier we saw how Scotch whisky has fallen foul of the fakers.

0:39:190:39:23

It's not just the modern whiskies.

0:39:230:39:26

In Blackpool, online whisky auctioneer Angus MacRaild

0:39:260:39:30

deals in rare vintage whiskies, a commodity that's in great demand.

0:39:300:39:36

Whisky in general, particularly malt whiskies and vintage malt whiskies,

0:39:360:39:39

in the last few years at auctions have been getting

0:39:390:39:41

increasingly more valuable. Prices are going up all the time.

0:39:410:39:44

It's a problem now that, as more money comes into more whisky,

0:39:440:39:47

certainly on the secondary market, the auction market,

0:39:470:39:50

then more fake bottles appear.

0:39:500:39:51

Now, it's common for some genuinely old bottles to fetch

0:39:510:39:55

thousands of pounds at auction. Some even tens of thousands.

0:39:550:39:59

But there are fakers out there buying empty antique bottles

0:39:590:40:03

and refilling them with a modern liquid.

0:40:030:40:06

And as a result, collectors up and down the country

0:40:060:40:09

are getting duped into buying what they think

0:40:090:40:11

is a bottle of liquid history,

0:40:110:40:13

but turns out to be nothing more than a worthless fake.

0:40:130:40:17

I'll give you a couple of examples. We've got here a few Macallans.

0:40:170:40:21

This one here, we know this is a fake.

0:40:220:40:25

But to the outward eye, it looks OK.

0:40:250:40:27

The untrained eye might just see that and think,

0:40:270:40:30

"It's a bottle of whisky, a bottle of Macallan, it's fine."

0:40:300:40:32

But for an eagle-eyed auctioneer like Angus,

0:40:320:40:35

there are a few telltale signs that the bottle's been refilled.

0:40:350:40:39

First of all, the capsule looks pretty shoddy.

0:40:390:40:41

It looks like it's been reworked to some extent.

0:40:410:40:43

That's a really telltale sign,

0:40:430:40:45

because normally on capsules, they should be very tight, very clean.

0:40:450:40:49

That's the genuine version there.

0:40:520:40:54

So you can see the capsule's much cleaner,

0:40:540:40:56

the whole bottle is much cleaner.

0:40:560:40:58

So the capsules have been put back on

0:40:580:41:00

to give the appearance that the fake bottle has never been opened.

0:41:000:41:04

It's not the only way to spot the fakes.

0:41:040:41:07

If you give it a shake,

0:41:070:41:09

you get this froth that just sits there.

0:41:090:41:12

The froth, or beading, as it's known in the trade,

0:41:120:41:15

indicates how strong the liquid inside the whisky bottle is.

0:41:150:41:19

But when Angus compares the real one to the fake,

0:41:190:41:22

it's pretty obvious which is which.

0:41:220:41:24

You give them both a shake,

0:41:240:41:26

and you notice immediately the differences.

0:41:260:41:30

The beading here dies down

0:41:300:41:31

in concurrence with the 43% alcohol whisky.

0:41:310:41:33

This... Who knows?

0:41:330:41:36

Maybe it's single cask washing-up liquid, I don't know.

0:41:360:41:38

But it's not the real deal.

0:41:380:41:40

Being a fake, it's worth a couple of quid at most.

0:41:400:41:44

If it was genuine, it would fetch around £700.

0:41:440:41:47

But the effect is not just on the price of the whisky.

0:41:470:41:51

In the last few years, Angus has noticed

0:41:510:41:54

as the number of fake refilled bottles has gone up,

0:41:540:41:57

so has the price for genuine empty bottles.

0:41:570:42:01

Here's an empty bottle of Macallan Private Eye

0:42:010:42:04

which is being sold online.

0:42:040:42:05

And the price that's being asked is £199.

0:42:050:42:09

200 quid for an empty bottle does seem a touch steep.

0:42:090:42:13

But if you scroll through the elaborate photo gallery,

0:42:130:42:16

and description,

0:42:160:42:17

you'll find a rather interesting sales pitch.

0:42:170:42:20

"Bottle is empty. £1,500 when full.

0:42:200:42:23

"Check out Bonhams auction," or something.

0:42:230:42:26

If you click the link, lo and behold, you'll find

0:42:260:42:28

a recent sale at auction, where a full bottle fetched £1,500.

0:42:280:42:33

It's clear that they know what someone who buys it

0:42:330:42:36

is probably going to do with it. Refill it.

0:42:360:42:38

£199 buys you an empty one,

0:42:380:42:40

and if you've got the means to refill it and reseal it,

0:42:400:42:43

then there's definite motivation there

0:42:430:42:45

for people to go and fake a bottle and make money on it.

0:42:450:42:49

Terrible.

0:42:490:42:50

That's all from Fake Britain. Goodbye.

0:42:560:42:58

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