Episode 3 Fake Britain


Episode 3

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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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SHOUTING

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SHOUTING

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Put your hands behind your back now!

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Here at the Fake Britain house,

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we'll reveal the fakes that are flooding the market.

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Conning people like you and me and making money for the criminals.

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We'll investigate the fraudsters

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who are selling us something that isn't real and could be dangerous.

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And we'll help you avoid falling for a fake.

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Today on Fake Britain...

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The movie has won the hearts of children across the world

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but the fake merchandise has left one little girl scarred for life.

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The blood was absolutely flowing out of her face.

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The fake hi-tech coat that could have chilling consequences.

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If a consumer was counting on a jacket for their survival

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and they bought a counterfeit jacket,

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that could result in a life-and-death situation.

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And the fraudsters trying to steal millions

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from taxpayers and charities.

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It makes you intensely angry that somebody could come

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and take money away from hard-working people.

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Even if you don't have young children,

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you can't have escaped the phenomenon that is the Disney blockbuster,

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Frozen.

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It quickly became the highest-grossing animated film

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of all time and demand for the merchandise has been huge -

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with toys, dolls, games and much more flying off the shelves.

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They just can't make it fast enough.

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Little wonder then that the fakers have grabbed their slice

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of the Frozen pie.

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But the consequences for some kids have been truly shocking.

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Frozen tells the story of Princess Elsa

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who turns everything she touches to ice and snow,

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-and her little sister, Anna...

-Really?

-..who sets out to save her.

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That's my sister.

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Kids who adored the film went even crazier for the merchandise,

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with dresses, dolls and soft toys all selling out at Christmas time.

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Parents who couldn't get their hands on the toys in the shops

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quickly turned to the internet, where the fakers were only too happy

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to fill the demand.

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But give these fakes to a child and their smiles may turn to tears.

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One dad with a Frozen-mad daughter is Stuart Broll,

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from Stockton-on-Tees.

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My daughter Lydia is pretty much obsessed with Frozen,

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like most girls are these days.

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She loves it.

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Like any loving dad,

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Stuart wanted to make his daughter's dreams come true.

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So, he bought her some Frozen toys.

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I'd been looking online one night, looked on eBay

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and they've got a massive selection of Frozen products.

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Stuart chose a watch with a bendy metal strap

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that would wrap around his daughter's slim wrist.

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Known as slap or snap bands,

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these accessories come in a wide range of designs

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and are popular with children,

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who enjoy slapping them round their wrists.

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Lydia is quite small and I did have trouble, obviously,

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getting a watch to fit her.

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So, I thought with it being a snap band,

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it would be the best alternative.

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It would actually fit round her hand neat and tidy

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and it wouldn't fall off.

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Stuart also bought a stuffed toy in the shape of Sven the reindeer,

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one of the characters from Frozen.

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But when the toys arrived, Stuart made an appalling discovery.

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On inspection, I found that the metal legs inside

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was actually sticking through the outer covering of the animal.

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I couldn't even think about the damage that

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could have done.

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I mean, it's horrific.

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You know, it's a metal rod that's sticking through.

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The amount of damage that could have caused,

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it's not even worth thinking about to be quite honest.

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The slap watch was equally deadly.

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Sadly, on inspection and cutting it open,

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I found a metal tape measure to be used inside.

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Shockingly, the wristband was simply made

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from a standard builder's measuring tape

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that had been cut to the right shape and covered with cheap plastic.

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It is absolutely razor-sharp down the sides

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and also at the corners where it's actually been cut down.

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Thankfully, Stuart managed to spot the danger

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and remove the toys before Lydia was hurt.

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I'm absolutely disgusted that people are actually selling these products

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in the first place.

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That could potentially harm or even kill a child.

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But one father who wasn't so lucky is Nathan Stodden from Cornwall.

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Nathan's dad to three girls - Chelsea, Bethany and Madison.

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Like other girls their age, they too are fanatical about Frozen.

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When six-year-old Bethany and three-year-old Madison

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were invited to a friend's Frozen-themed birthday party

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one Saturday afternoon, they were delighted.

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After the event, both girls were given a party bag

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containing a Frozen slap wristband.

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They absolutely loved them.

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As soon as Bethany had the wristband, yeah,

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it was on and she's slapping away and playing with it. Weren't you?

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Bethany loved the wristband so much she didn't take it off

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and was still wearing it the next morning.

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Then I was in the kitchen doing the dishes.

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The kids were upstairs playing and bouncing around.

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And I heard a massive scream from upstairs.

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Nathan was about to be confronted with a shocking sight.

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Bethany had come walking into the kitchen with footprints of blood.

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Blood dripping down her face with a massive open wound,

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which was very, very deep and wide.

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It was like something out of a horror movie.

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Literally, it was just a trail of disaster.

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Poor little Bethany had caught her face on the edge

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of the fake wristband, causing an inch-long cut in her cheek.

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Bethany was in hysterics when she came in to me

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and I was in a massive state of shock from looking at it.

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You know, my beautiful daughter had a massive gash on her face,

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which frightened me.

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When Nathan examined the wristband,

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he discovered that just like Stuart's,

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it contained a cut up tape measure.

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This is the one that actually did the damage itself.

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This is absolutely razor-sharp.

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It actually entered Bethany's face

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to just below where my thumb is now.

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That's how deep it actually went into her face,

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which is nearly 10mm.

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Bethany was rushed to hospital, where the doctors were able

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to stop the bleeding and close the wound.

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But she may be scarred for life.

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It really hurted.

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And how do you feel now?

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-Scared.

-It's sad, isn't it?

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You don't like seeing the scar on your face, do you?

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Even after what has happened, Nathan still believes

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they've been very lucky.

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If it had slashed her wrist or caught an artery

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or anything like that, the doctors would have really struggled.

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And certainly within the time it took me

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to take her to my local hospital,

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she would have lost a serious amount of blood.

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But it's not just the occasional slap band or stuffed toy

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slipping through.

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Faking Frozen products is a boom industry.

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Huge container-loads of fake Disney merchandise

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have been secretly arriving at British ports

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and no-one knows how much of it has found its way into people's homes.

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It's Trading Standards' job to try and stop the deluge.

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And in Nottinghamshire, one team has successfully intercepted a huge haul

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of fake Frozen merchandise,

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which was being sold from a shop in their area.

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It was just everywhere and all tat.

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Paul Gretton and Robert Martinez were part of the team

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that seized the toys.

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They're an obvious fake because on the back...

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..you've got the impression of buttons but no actual buttons.

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And there's no screw for the battery compartment as well.

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So, the batteries would be accessible to little kids.

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Delightful little thing(!)

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What's really surprised me -

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and I've been in Trading Standards a long time -

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is the really poor quality of some of this.

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Ooh, the leg's come off.

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This is some of the worst fake stuff I've seen in 30 years.

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It's not robust enough to be given to children.

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It's really, really shockingly poor stuff.

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In total, they've seized over 700 items, including umbrellas,

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wallets, bags, alarm clocks and much more.

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What is a little bit unusual is

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fake product normally sells for less than the market value.

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But the demand is so high for this particular product

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that it's actually selling at market value,

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what the real stuff is selling for.

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As well as being poor quality,

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many of the toys are potentially dangerous.

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Of serious concern are hooded coats

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with chords that could strangle.

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They're really nasty.

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You know, I thought we'd seen the back of this sort of thing,

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I really did.

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The problem with that is, if that gets caught -

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and the classic one is when they're coming down a slide

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in a playground - and pulls, it actually forms a noose.

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And there were deaths.

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Two to three deaths a year before the law was changed on that

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some years ago.

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So, that's the real worry with those.

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Children's coats with drawstrings that pull all the way through

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are now banned in the UK.

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Coats for children under seven

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aren't even allowed to have decorative cords.

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I don't think I'm exaggerating by saying that

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the worst that could happen with some of this product

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is there could be a fatality.

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And Nottinghamshire County Council's Trading Standards aren't alone.

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Enforcement agencies have been seizing goods

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up and down the country.

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At the port of Dover, a lorry-load of fake toys,

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including nearly 500 fake Frozen dolls,

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was impounded in the run-up to Christmas 2014.

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Meanwhile, at Stansted Airport, dolls and accessories worth over £8,000

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were confiscated from shipments arriving from Malaysia and China.

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For the Stodden family,

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their encounter with a fake Frozen toy

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is an experience they're never going to be able to forget.

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I think the difficult thing for ourselves is the childhood years of,

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certainly school photos, are going to be haunted by

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such a horrible scar on such a beautiful girl's face.

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It's...

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It's quite...it's quite emotional, isn't it? Hm?

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When you buy a coat to keep you warm, well, you want it to keep you warm.

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A parka filled with goose down is amongst the very warmest there is -

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as this one should be.

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But it's a fake.

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Buy a real down coat and you'll be toasty.

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Buy a fake, you'll be left out in the cold.

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Down-filled parkas were designed for those working

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in the very coldest conditions.

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But they're now a regular sight on our high streets during winter.

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One brand of down-filled coat is called Canada Goose.

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Kevin Spreekmeester is Chief Marketing Officer.

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Canada Goose is a nearly 60-year-old company

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that manufactures some of the world's best down outerwear.

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The company makes coats for anyone who wants to stay warm -

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from shoppers out and about on a frosty day,

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to rugged outdoor workers in the coldest places on earth.

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We make warm jackets for the city.

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We make warm jackets for athletes and dog mushers

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and researchers in Antarctica.

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For these people, it's a tool of their trade.

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It's equipment. It's necessary. It's a survival piece.

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Of course, you don't have to be an Arctic researcher to wear one

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of these coats.

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In fact, they're now regularly worn as winter outerwear

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in towns and cities.

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But the manufacturers say they're still designed to withstand

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the most extreme temperatures.

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We continually study jackets in cold chambers.

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We continually look for improvements in fabrications and trims.

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It's an ongoing process.

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Of course, the fakers have spotted the chance to profit

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from the company's success.

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They are making coats that look like exact replicas

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of their high-end designs but with none of the technical wizardry.

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And for outdoor workers relying on their gear to protect them

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from the elements, that could have serious consequences.

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As Maya Plass found out.

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-Come here.

-Maya is a marine biologist who spends her days

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battling the weather around Britain's coastline.

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I'm often outside so I spend a lot of time

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just exploring the coastline,

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whether it's doing rock pool rambles with children,

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or whether it's diving as well and spending a lot of time on the water.

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After a particularly cold day out on the boat,

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Maya decided it was time to buy a new warm jacket.

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Spotting a French website that had the coats on sale,

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she jumped at the chance to grab a bargain.

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And I knew friends that had had Canada Goose coats

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and completely relied on them, even going on polar expeditions

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and things as well.

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So, I just felt that I couldn't lose the opportunity

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of staying lovely and warm and dry for very cold, wet days

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out on the sea.

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Maya ordered a parka and a gilet, both on sale at a hefty discount.

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But when the coats arrived,

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her hopes of staying warm and dry were dashed.

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As soon as I got them out of the parcel,

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the coat material just didn't feel quality.

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It felt very cheap.

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It felt like it wasn't going to be waterproof

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and I knew that they were fakes.

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The fake parka had none of the top-quality insulating features

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that Maya was expecting.

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You can see from some of the stitching here

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that there's stitches loose.

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That the material's really poor quality and isn't waterproof.

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If I just get some water and just drop it on the top.

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And if it's a really good waterproof coat, the water beads will stay.

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But you can see already by leaving it on there,

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it's completely soaked in.

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There are problems with the fit too.

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Not a very good hood.

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SHE LAUGHS

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Maya kicked herself for having been taken in by the fakers.

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So, when I realised they were fake, I was genuinely really disappointed

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cos I'd wasted my money.

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I also felt a bit of an idiot.

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I thought, "How could I have done something so stupid?"

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But I realise that anyone can do it as well.

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So, if you've bought one online,

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how can you tell if you've been fooled?

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So, what we have here is an authentic jacket.

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And here we have a fake jacket.

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The most obvious thing is the overall appearance

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of the jackets.

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This is our Arctic Tech fabric, which is a polycotton blend.

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It's smart. It's covered in DWR, which is a water resistancy.

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It doesn't crinkle like this one.

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And, if you take a look at this, it just looks mangy.

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It is worn and flimsy.

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On the authentic jacket you have this, what we call our Arctic Disc.

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And you can see the definition in the type.

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There's not a thread out of place.

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If you take a look at the fake jacket,

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this is an ugly mess.

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You can see the stitching on the inside of the label here.

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Weird strands. The Arctic is messed up.

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What's inside the fake coat is even worse.

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These are two glasses filled with down

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and what the counterfeiters put in their fake jackets.

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So, we've had these analysed in a lab.

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This one, the fake down, is 5% down.

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It's 50% feathers

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and the rest, who knows what.

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Dust and dirt and whatever's on the factory floor.

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This is down.

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Down filaments are the underbelly of the bird that go under the feathers.

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That's what keeps you warm.

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The results of owning a fake coat like this could be serious.

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If a consumer was counting on a jacket for their survival

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and they bought a counterfeit jacket,

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that could result in a life-and-death situation.

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It's clear from looking at the fakes

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that the quality isn't up to scratch.

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But how well do they perform in the cold?

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At Loughborough University,

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Professor George Havenith studies how people perform

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in extreme temperatures.

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What we're standing in front of here is our climatic chamber.

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We have two of those.

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And we can simulate most climates of the world in these chambers.

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We can go from -30 to +50.

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Or we can change the humidity as well

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and make it very humid or very dry.

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So, to see how the coats perform on real people,

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Professor Havenith is testing them on two colleagues.

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Alex is wearing the fake jacket.

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Simon's wearing the genuine one.

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At the moment, I'm quite warm but I don't think so in a minute.

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I think I'm going to be quite cold, so...

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OK, let's take you guys in.

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The climatic chamber is cooled to -20 degrees Celsius,

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as cold as the average household freezer.

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Alex and Simon will stay in there for half an hour.

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Just make sure you're as warm as you can be.

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My face is quite cold.

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-Yeah.

-I'm not too bad.

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It could be worse.

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You've got the nice jacket.

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So, what we're trying to do here is just to illustrate

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how the jackets work on real people.

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This will show us how people cool down.

0:17:310:17:33

And we would expect to see, with the infrared camera,

0:17:330:17:36

that actually Alex is losing more heat through the jacket.

0:17:360:17:38

So, he would feel colder and we would see more heat on the outside.

0:17:380:17:42

After 30 minutes at -20 degrees,

0:17:440:17:47

the differences between the two coats have become very clear.

0:17:470:17:50

I'm very, very cold now.

0:17:500:17:51

I've had enough.

0:17:520:17:54

After about 15 minutes, my nose hairs started to freeze.

0:17:540:17:58

Right, guys. I think you're cold enough.

0:17:580:18:00

But I do want to take a quick infrared picture.

0:18:000:18:03

Using the thermal imaging camera,

0:18:030:18:05

Professor Havenith takes a photo of Alex and Simon

0:18:050:18:08

to see how much heat is escaping from the coats.

0:18:080:18:11

OK, get your coats off, guys.

0:18:130:18:15

If you look on the left, it's the fake jacket here

0:18:160:18:18

and you see the bright colours showing how much heat

0:18:180:18:21

is coming through.

0:18:210:18:22

Whereas on the right-hand side, the real jacket,

0:18:220:18:25

you see much more darker blue colours.

0:18:250:18:28

So, in contrast of the two,

0:18:280:18:29

there's a lot less insulation in this jacket.

0:18:290:18:33

Professor Havenith's tests have proved

0:18:340:18:36

that when it comes to insulation,

0:18:360:18:37

the fake coat is vastly inferior to the genuine one.

0:18:370:18:41

The insulation of the real jacket is probably a third more

0:18:410:18:43

than the other one, so that's really a substantial difference.

0:18:430:18:46

And if you would go to the Arctic and depend on the jacket

0:18:460:18:50

and you would have bought the fake jacket,

0:18:500:18:51

I think you would be in trouble.

0:18:510:18:53

The existence of fakes is a major cause of concern for the company.

0:18:540:18:58

Most of the fakes are bought on what we call rogue websites.

0:18:580:19:02

So, these are counterfeiters that have taken our images,

0:19:020:19:06

taken our copy and created websites that look identical to ours.

0:19:060:19:11

So, it's very easy to get tricked.

0:19:110:19:13

But if you don't want to get caught out when buying online,

0:19:130:19:16

what can you do?

0:19:160:19:18

Some of the things to look out for are -

0:19:180:19:20

where's the phone number to customer service?

0:19:200:19:23

Where's the e-mail to customer service?

0:19:230:19:25

Sometimes you'll see on a fake site that the pricing is quite low.

0:19:250:19:30

Canada Goose jackets don't often go on sale.

0:19:300:19:33

So, it's rare that you would see that.

0:19:330:19:35

For Maya, it's a relief that she spotted the fake

0:19:370:19:40

before anything serious happened.

0:19:400:19:42

If I was wearing this coat on a day when it was raining,

0:19:420:19:45

when I'd been diving, I could have even got hypothermia

0:19:450:19:49

from the fact that this coat wouldn't keep me warm

0:19:490:19:51

and wouldn't keep me dry.

0:19:510:19:52

So, it's not just the case that I've lost the money,

0:19:520:19:54

it's the case that, actually, it could cause you harm.

0:19:540:19:57

All these letters were sent to large organisations,

0:20:030:20:06

like councils and hospitals,

0:20:060:20:09

informing them that the bank account details of one of their suppliers

0:20:090:20:12

had changed.

0:20:120:20:14

Fairly straightforward, you might think.

0:20:140:20:16

Thousands of letters like these turn up at organisations every year.

0:20:160:20:20

But all these letters are fakes, sent by criminals.

0:20:200:20:23

The new bank account has nothing to do with the legitimate suppliers.

0:20:230:20:27

That means councils, hospitals, big businesses, even charities,

0:20:270:20:32

can unwittingly pay huge sums directly to the fakers.

0:20:320:20:36

And an awful lot of that money... is ours.

0:20:360:20:38

Some large organisations can receive as many as 2,000 letters a year

0:20:400:20:45

from suppliers informing them of a change of bank details.

0:20:450:20:49

So, if a fake letter arrives,

0:20:490:20:51

you have to be pretty switched on to spot it.

0:20:510:20:53

Sharron Evans is finance administrator for the YMCA

0:20:550:20:58

in Cheltenham, which provides housing for homeless people.

0:20:580:21:02

When their existing building became too dated,

0:21:020:21:05

they knocked it down and built a brand-new one.

0:21:050:21:08

The percentage of homeless people was just rising

0:21:080:21:11

and they needed somewhere to go.

0:21:110:21:13

And we felt that, you know, we were in a position at that time

0:21:130:21:17

to be able to offer this.

0:21:170:21:19

After a consultation process,

0:21:210:21:23

the YMCA hired local construction company, Speller Metcalfe,

0:21:230:21:27

to build the new accommodation.

0:21:270:21:29

Andy Metcalfe is Chief Executive.

0:21:290:21:31

The value of the project to us as a construction

0:21:310:21:34

was approximately £3.6 million

0:21:340:21:37

and took about 18 months to complete.

0:21:370:21:41

As the project progressed, the YMCA made regular payments

0:21:420:21:46

to the builders for the work completed so far.

0:21:460:21:49

The next payment due was for £175,000.

0:21:490:21:53

But then Sharron received a letter.

0:21:530:21:55

The letter was from Speller Metcalfe

0:21:560:21:58

telling me that they'd changed their bank account

0:21:580:22:01

and that from this date forward,

0:22:010:22:03

to transfer any monies owed to them to this new bank account.

0:22:030:22:08

The letter had the correct logo and all the right details.

0:22:080:22:12

But something about it wasn't quite right.

0:22:120:22:14

I was suspicious because when I looked at the address,

0:22:140:22:18

there was a H missing.

0:22:180:22:19

Instead of Brockworth, it said "Brockwort".

0:22:190:22:22

I thought I needed to just check with them.

0:22:220:22:26

Sharron contacted the builders

0:22:260:22:28

to ask if they'd changed their bank details.

0:22:280:22:30

They then e-mailed me back and said, no, they hadn't.

0:22:310:22:34

The letter was a fake.

0:22:350:22:37

It wasn't from the builders at all.

0:22:370:22:39

If Sharron hadn't checked,

0:22:390:22:41

she would have paid £175,000 straight into a fraudster's bank account.

0:22:410:22:47

People have had to work and fundraise and everything

0:22:470:22:49

for that money.

0:22:490:22:50

For it just to disappear just like that, it would have been awful.

0:22:500:22:55

And for me to have to tell somebody that I'd lost £175,000...

0:22:550:23:00

Andy Metcalfe is concerned that someone was so easily able to fake

0:23:020:23:05

his company's identity and use it to try and steal money

0:23:050:23:09

from one of his clients.

0:23:090:23:10

It makes you intensely angry that somebody could come...

0:23:100:23:13

..and purport to be Speller Metcalfe.

0:23:140:23:17

That could look to come and take money away from hard-working people.

0:23:170:23:23

What Andy and Sharron experienced was a type of fakery

0:23:240:23:27

known as bank mandate fraud.

0:23:270:23:29

Will Richardson is a forensic accountant for auditors PwC.

0:23:290:23:33

It's something he sees regularly.

0:23:330:23:36

If we look at the last 12 months alone,

0:23:360:23:38

I've probably investigated about ten cases of mandate fraud.

0:23:380:23:41

The sums that have come across my desk of mandate fraud

0:23:410:23:44

are typically £500,000 plus.

0:23:440:23:47

Sometimes into the seven figures, into the millions as well.

0:23:470:23:50

And it's not just charities like the YMCA that are being targeted.

0:23:510:23:55

The fakers are after large payments from all sorts of organisations -

0:23:550:23:59

from private companies to schools, NHS trusts and local councils.

0:23:590:24:05

Like Conwy County Borough Council, in North Wales,

0:24:050:24:08

which recently embarked on a major redevelopment project at Colwyn Bay.

0:24:080:24:12

Mike Halstead is the council's head of audit.

0:24:140:24:17

In 2012, after a succession of storms,

0:24:170:24:21

the sea defence along this promenade was left severely damaged.

0:24:210:24:24

The project itself consisted of two major elements.

0:24:240:24:28

One was the sea defences and one was the building where we are now.

0:24:280:24:32

The whole scheme, when it's finished,

0:24:320:24:34

is expected to cost around about £25 million.

0:24:340:24:38

As the project progressed,

0:24:380:24:40

Conwy Council made regular payments to the building contractor.

0:24:400:24:43

The next sum due was £2.6 million.

0:24:430:24:48

Then, something unusual happened.

0:24:480:24:50

We were phoned by an individual who informed us that the

0:24:500:24:55

main contractor's bank details were changing.

0:24:550:24:58

This was slightly unusual, so we requested the submission of a letter

0:24:580:25:04

to confirm the new bank details.

0:25:040:25:06

But when the letter arrived, staff quickly spotted that it was a fake.

0:25:070:25:11

If the attempt had not been caught in time,

0:25:110:25:14

Conwy Council would have deposited a massive £2.6 million

0:25:140:25:18

of taxpayers' money into the faker's pockets.

0:25:180:25:21

The council would have had to recoup this money in some way,

0:25:210:25:24

which could have impacted on services.

0:25:240:25:27

For example, libraries could have been at risk.

0:25:270:25:30

Leisure centres could have been at risk.

0:25:300:25:32

Jobs could have been at risk.

0:25:320:25:34

And the attempt wasn't a one-off.

0:25:350:25:37

Conwy Council have received several fake bank change letters.

0:25:370:25:41

These letters are all purporting to be from different suppliers

0:25:410:25:45

to the council.

0:25:450:25:46

So, they are people we do do business with.

0:25:460:25:48

But they all have the same layout.

0:25:480:25:51

And interestingly, they all have the same signature,

0:25:520:25:54

which is an immediate warning for us that these are bogus.

0:25:540:25:59

Both the YMCA and Conwy Council were lucky.

0:26:000:26:03

Their eagle-eyed staff members managed to spot the fake letters

0:26:030:26:06

and avert disaster.

0:26:060:26:08

Other organisations haven't been so fortunate.

0:26:080:26:11

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS trust lost £24,000

0:26:120:26:16

after fraudsters sent a fake e-mail asking for a change of bank details.

0:26:160:26:20

The government of Guernsey paid out a massive £2.6 million to fakers

0:26:210:26:27

posing as the contractor working on the revamp of Guernsey Airport.

0:26:270:26:32

And another £2.6 million was lost over a 13-month period

0:26:320:26:36

by the owners of the Port of Felixstowe.

0:26:360:26:38

Again, paid out by mistake to criminals,

0:26:380:26:41

who faked the identity of the Port's fuel supplier.

0:26:410:26:44

And once the money's gone out, it's virtually impossible to get it back.

0:26:450:26:49

As soon as it hits a fraudster's bank account in the UK,

0:26:490:26:52

it's sent out of the UK.

0:26:520:26:53

It's quickly distributed across a number of different accounts

0:26:530:26:57

in different jurisdictions around the world,

0:26:570:26:59

which makes both the tracing of that money

0:26:590:27:01

and the recovery of that money almost impossible.

0:27:010:27:04

But in Felixstowe, they did manage to catch one of the fakers.

0:27:040:27:07

31-year-old Mohammed Fawzul-Rahman of Watford

0:27:080:27:11

was jailed for four years

0:27:110:27:13

after nearly half a million pounds of the Port's money

0:27:130:27:15

was laundered through his bank accounts.

0:27:150:27:18

The Port was able to recover about half the money stolen.

0:27:180:27:22

But around £1 million was never seen again.

0:27:220:27:25

Perhaps unsurprisingly,

0:27:260:27:27

companies who have fallen victim to mandate fraud

0:27:270:27:30

rarely want to talk about it.

0:27:300:27:32

But it's a huge problem for businesses in the UK.

0:27:320:27:35

One of our large UK banks, it's corporate-client based,

0:27:350:27:38

experienced almost £40 million of attempted mandate fraud in 2014.

0:27:380:27:44

Luckily, the attempts made on Conwy Council and the YMCA

0:27:450:27:48

were simple ones and by checking with the contractors,

0:27:480:27:51

they managed to avoid paying thousands of pounds

0:27:510:27:54

into a faker's bank account.

0:27:540:27:56

The worst-case scenario would be

0:27:560:27:58

that the building would not have been completed.

0:27:580:28:01

And that would have meant that all the people that we've helped so far

0:28:020:28:06

since opening, we would not have been able to help.

0:28:060:28:09

That's all from Fake Britain.

0:28:150:28:16

Goodbye.

0:28:160:28:18

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