Episode 1 Fake Britain

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

Welcome to Fake Britain.

Police!

Get down! Get down on the floor now!

Put your hands behind your back now!

Here at the Fake Britain house,

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

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

We'll investigate the fraudsters who are selling us something

that isn't real and could be dangerous.

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

Today on fake Britain:

The faux fur that's actually real animal fur

and the high street chains that have been selling it.

It is definitely not false fur so if somebody was buying this

hoping to avoid fur products, I'm afraid they have been misled.

The faker who conned jobseekers out of thousands

and then implicated one of his own victims in the crime.

I had a knock on the door and all I heard was, "Police! Police!"

They may look cute on the outside,

but inside, these fake nightlights are seriously ugly.

There is no doubt in my mind that a fault on the electronics,

in certain circumstances the product could actually catch fire.

And fake boxing gear that is leaving gym goers back and blue.

If you are wearing fake shinpads and you kick someone

you could break your tibia so easy.

If you wear a fake head guard, what price do you put on your brain?

Could you tell the difference between real fur and faux fur?

Wearing imitation fur is a choice made by lots of people

who think real fur is cruel and unnecessary.

Unsurprisingly, the fakers have been keen

to get their grubby paws on the fur market.

But unbelievably, they're not selling fake fur and pretending it's real.

It's the other way round.

All of this is real fur that was sold as a synthetic fur.

It's fake faux fur.

And it is deceiving people who might be horrified

to find they are wearing the real thing.

It's making a lot of money for the fakers.

Faux fur is the perfect way to have the look

and feel of real fur without any animals being harmed.

And it has become so popular that in the last two years alone, the number

of new synthetic fur products for sale in the UK has more than doubled.

I think in this day of garment technology

there's no need for real fur to be used at all.

I am totally against real fur and I would expect that most things

available to us would be faux fur anyway.

But fakers are getting in on the fur action

and selling fake faux fur, which means that, horrifyingly,

some of the synthetic fur on your high street is not synthetic at all.

It's real.

Boudicca Lee is an animal rights blogger from Croydon in south London.

She has noticed real fur for sale on her local high street

and believes fakers are trying to pass it off as faux fur.

Here we have a hat.

A little hat. Very, very sweet.

But if you have a look at the label, the label is 64% acrylic, 36% wool.

So no fur mentioned there at all.

I believe this is real fur rather than fake fur

because it is on a lining of skin.

Fake fur is on a bed of fabric

and real fur is on a lining of skin or leather.

She also bought a coat costing £30 and a cardigan costing £10.

Just like the hat, both items have a fur trim

but neither has a label saying what it's made of and that is illegal.

Sylvia Rook is a trading standards officer.

If you've got fur trim on a garment, the law says that it needs to say

that it contains products of animal origin

so that you know that there's something from an animal

on the garment.

If the label makes no mention of any fur,

the natural conclusion is that the garment doesn't contain any.

So real fur, not labelled,

could easily be mistaken for good quality faux fur.

Is that real fur or is that fake fur?

It looks pretty real.

If I was a betting man I would say it is fake.

From a high street shop I would assume that it was fake fur.

Fake Britain wanted to find out what the garments Boudicca bought

are really made from.

So we took them to Dr Phil Greaves at Microtex near Leeds.

With 40 years' experience of studying different fibres,

he can tell just from a quick glance through a microscope

what type of animal the fur comes from.

This is definitely an animal fibre.

The first one he tests is the cardigan.

This is very, very closely resembling mink.

Next, Dr Greaves looks at the hat.

I would say these are most like weasel.

It is definitely not false fur, so if somebody was buying this

hoping to avoid fur products, I'm afraid they have been misled.

The fur on the third item, the coat,

comes from an animal you may not be familiar with - the raccoon dog.

It is a type of wild dog commonly found in Asia.

They are known as raccoon dogs because of their distinct markings.

Ventura Wildlife keeps raccoon dogs

at its conservation centre in north London.

Ashley Palmier is the director.

So this is Mango. She is one of our adult raccoon dogs.

Raccoon dogs are fascinating creatures.

They have this wonderful coat, especially in the winter time like it is now.

It grows extra long and that is what is so beautiful to touch.

But this lovely, fluffy coat is unfortunately what makes them perfect for the fur trade.

And there's another reason too.

They have massive litters and those big litters

of anything up to 19 would be perfect if you were farming them for fur.

But the fur farms are notorious for the horrendous way

in which animals are treated.

It's an issue that especially concerns Claire Bass from the Humane Society.

Every year, hundreds of millions of animals are killed

in the fur industry.

Many of these animals will have led pitiful existences

in tiny wire cages, barely bigger than themselves

and then they will have experienced painful deaths by electrocution,

by drowning, by being beaten to death and even skinned alive.

So this is a major animal welfare problem.

It is a very horrible thing to imagine this being skinned alive.

As you can see, she is a wonderful creature. She is very friendly. She likes the affection.

To be honest, it's quite saddening to all of us here

that this sort of species is being used for the fur trade.

Because of the intensive way animals like raccoon dogs are farmed,

their fur can be produced surprisingly cheaply.

What we've got here is raccoon dog fur trimming for hoods.

The pricing is shockingly low.

200 pieces the batches come in

and they work out between 1 and 3 per piece.

So you're looking at a 70 centimetre strip of animal fur

for as little as about £1.

For many people it can come as a surprise

to learn that real fur can be quite so cheap.

It is in fact faux fur.

I don't think I would have the money to buy real fur.

Looking at the price, probably the price could tell you

it is not real fur because it is only £8.99,

whereas probably the products with the real fur

would be much more expensive than that.

Traditionally, perhaps there's a perception

that real fur is a great luxury and very expensive,

and an item that's maybe £10 or £20 couldn't possibly be real fur.

But consumers who think that need to think again because real fur

nowadays can be purchased for far less than quality faux fur prices.

So, by not labelling the fur as they should

and by selling it cheaply, fakers are tricking consumers into buying

a product they really don't want.

But some have gone a step further.

They're actually selling real fur clearly labelled as faux fur.

And it's happening in well-known high street stores.

Our researchers spent some time looking at a lot of UK websites,

to look at their items labelled as faux fur,

and they identified a few which they thought could be real fur.

We then purchased a small number of these

and in a number of cases this turned out to be the case.

One of the garments they bought was a coat

from the leading department store - House of Fraser.

It's described on the website as having a faux fur trim on the hood.

When we come to examine it, we find

that it's actually real animal fur.

There's a couple of ways to spot fake...faux from real fur.

The first thing I'm looking at is the tapering of the hairs.

So, with real fur the end of the hairs goes to a very thin,

fine point and that doesn't tend to happen with faux fur.

The other thing I'm looking at is the base of the fur.

Then you see quite clearly

the hairs are attached to a skin.

But it wasn't just the coat.

Researchers also found a pair of gloves with a fur trim

sold by popular high street retailer - TK Maxx.

On their website the trim is clearly described as faux fur.

When they arrived we're able to see that, in fact,

they are real animal fur, probably in this case, most likely,

rabbit fur, although we'll have to get that tested to confirm it.

Clare's suspicion was confirmed

when we took the gloves to fibres expert, Dr Greaves.

These have been dyed.

And they have classic rabbit structures.

So these are rabbit fur.

Dr Greaves also examined the House of Fraser coat.

And these fibres have the appearance of fox.

I'm surprised that if it's claimed to be false fur,

that it is actually animal fibre.

So, that's five different types of real animal fur -

weasel, mink, raccoon dog, rabbit and fox

that Fake Britain found on the high street.

And two of them were sold labelled as faux fur

by well-known high street chains.

If I bought these to find out these were actually real instead of fake

I'd be furious.

Absolutely furious.

I would feel I was massively mis-sold a product that

goes against everything I believe in.

I'd be really annoyed at that. Really annoyed.

Actually, I don't even want to hold it any more.

But if people are buying fur without realising,

they're contributing to an industry they didn't want anything to do with.

That's giving a false impression of the demand for real fur.

Every year, hundreds of millions of animals are killed in the fur industry.

What we've found here with this short investigation,

this snapshot of the market,

is, potentially, a significant number of these animals are actually

being mis-sold as faux fur which is artificially inflating

the market for real fur.

TK Maxx told us, it has had a long-standing no fur policy

since 2003, and doesn't knowingly purchase items that contain real fur.

Despite having been informed of this policy, one of its vendors

mistakenly supplied gloves that contained real fur.

TK Maxx regrets that its internal teams didn't catch this error

and ensured these products weren't sold.

It's refreshing its practices to avoid a similar error in the future.

House of Fraser also told us it has a strict no fur policy

and ensures all of its brands and suppliers are aware of this.

It says, it was told by the brand that supplied the coat

that it was made of 100% polyester and nylon.

House of Fraser said it would never knowingly mislead its customers

and is very disappointed by the behaviour of this particular brand.

As a result, it's terminated its relationship with the brand

and no longer stocks any of its products.

The high street stores weren't the only one surprised

by Fake Britain's revelations.

Until this was brought to our attention by Fake Britain,

we weren't aware that there were so many garments that were

potentially being misdescribed in this way.

I certainly feel this matter warrants further investigation

by Trading Standards.

Here on Fake Britain, we are no strangers to the stories of people

who thought they'd landed a great new job only to find out it's a fake.

It can be a very distressing experience

and result in the loss of a lot of time, effort, confidence and money.

But we've discovered it can be even worse than that.

Because supplying personal details to a fraudster for a job application

can also lead to very unpleasant surprises.

It's reckoned that in 2013, almost 12 million people

used the internet to look for work or apply for jobs.

And one of them was product design graduate, Anamul Haque.

When he needed a job, he went online.

Before I graduated there were a lot of jobs available.

Once I actually graduated the recession kicked in

so I had a lot of stress in my head thinking, I need a job.

Anamul uploaded his CV to the local classifieds website, Gumtree,

and started applying for work.

Soon he received an e-mail, saying he'd been offered

a customer service position paying £23,000 a year.

A lot of companies they need customer service.

As I never had that before I thought,

this is a new field for me to get into.

To confirm the role, Anamul needed to supply a copy of his passport

and National Insurance number,

and undergo a Criminal Records Bureau, or CRB, check costing £50.

This would have to be paid for in advance

by an unusual means of payment.

I was to go to the nearest PayPal shop and get a Ukash voucher.

I didn't know what a Ukash voucher was.

Ukash is a system that allows consumers to use cash to pay online.

They hand over their money and in return get a voucher

containing a code which is entered into the website they want to pay.

The recipient uses the code to draw the payment

into their own online account.

Anamul went to his local shop and bought a Ukash voucher for £50,

as required by the e-mail.

I scanned a copy of my passport,

I also scanned a copy of my National Insurance card,

and I also gave them the Ukash voucher.

They said, OK, we will let you know within 24 hours.

But days went by and Anamul heard nothing.

On the fourth day I checked my e-mail and I thought,

the date's coming close and no response,

and I actually realised it was a scam.

It turned out the job was a fake.

Anamul kicked himself that he'd fallen for the faker's tricks.

I mean, I really want to swear but I'm not going to swear.

But...I was thinking,

OK, someone's actually scammed me.

I felt little.

What upset Anamul most was that he'd given his personal details

to the fakers.

The £50 is not really a big issue.

But I've actually sent off my passport

and my National Insurance card, and that's the big thing for me

as those information can be used to do anything.

Later on, we'll see exactly why Anamul was right to be so worried.

But Anamul Haque wasn't the faker's only victim.

And for job-seeker, Mahveen Raza from Leeds,

it's a much more distressing experience.

I was a student of Leeds Trinity University and I needed a job.

Mahveen posted her CV on the website Gumtree and began applying for work.

It was hard at first

but eventually, one day, her luck seemed to have finally changed.

I got an e-mail that, "we have seen your CV

"and so we are appointing you, if you are interested, with that job."

The e-mail told her she was being offered a sales position in Leeds

with a wage of £10 an hour.

It asked her to send over a completed application form together

with her passport, utility bill

and a £50 Ukash voucher for the criminal record check.

I was very excited that, you know, I've got a good job

and I was very happy.

I've got kids and they were happy, "Oh, Mama, you've got a job."

As well as asking for her personal information,

the e-mail had an extra element.

It invited her to a two-day induction and training event to be held

at the Hilton hotel in Leeds city centre in two weeks' time.

An excited Mahveen bought the £50 voucher,

sent the required information and waited for the induction day to arrive.

I was very happy in the morning.

I woke up early because if you're excited you get up early.

The kids went to school and they say, "Oh, Mama, good luck.

"Wish you all the best."

Mahveen's husband dropped her off near the hotel

and told her he'd be back to pick her up at the end of the day.

When she went to the reception, everything changed.

They said, "There is nothing here.

"There's no conference or nothing booked under this name."

Then they said, "No, this company doesn't exist."

They said it's a scam.

There was no company, no induction and worst of all, no job.

It was all an elaborate fake.

Then I called my husband.

I was very upset and I was like, literally, bursting into tears

and I said, "Please, please come, I don't want to stay here."

Sorry.

Mahveen had no choice but to go home

and start the job hunt all over again.

I will never forgive them, no.

I will never forgive them because, it's not a matter of money

but it's a matter of emotion, what they did.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire & the Humber Trading Standards' Scambuster Team

had received dozens of complaints about the fake e-mail

and had begun investigating.

John Field led the enquiry.

Around about 50 complaints had been received by Action Fraud

and by Trading Standards from individuals

who said they'd been misled.

Then what we have to do is, like most of these complaints,

is trace the money to see where the money supply has gone.

The team traced the Ukash payments to three online bank accounts.

Whoever had opened these accounts was clearly involved in the fakery.

When they had the details of the three account holders,

Trading Standards got a warrant to raid and search their homes.

The idea of the execution of the warrant was initially to see

if we could identify the three individuals whose names

appeared on the accounts because we believe they perpetrated,

committed, or could have committed a fraud.

And one of the accounts was in the name of Anamul Haque.

I heard a knock on the door and all I heard was, "Police, police."

I came downstairs.

Then I see there's a lot of police officers

and actually started grabbing me.

They arrested me.

Before they were putting the handcuffs on me,

they were telling me, this is the reason why we're arresting you

because you have been scamming people.

I was a bit baffled, what's going on?

People coming into my house. I was like, I haven't done anything.

Because his name was on one of the accounts

used for receiving Ukash payments,

Trading Standards believed Anamul was one of the fakers.

Everyone's crying around me.

My wife was crying around me, my mum was crying

and everyone's panicking.

At the back, there's just officers coming into the house.

Because it was like a raid.

They seized his phones and computer,

and took him down to the police station for questioning.

But when they asked about the £50 Ukash vouchers,

the experience he'd had six months previously all came flooding back.

It hit me and I was like, "Hold on, hold on, hold on!

"Six months ago, I was actually a victim of a scam."

Not only had the faker stolen £50 from Anamul for a fake CRB check

for a fake job, they'd also used his personal details to set up

an online bank account and used that to take payments from other victims.

When Trading Standards looked into his computer they quickly found

he was telling the truth.

Because he'd supplied so many details, the fraudsters themselves

had been able to set up an account in his name,

which indicated he was the person committing the offence

when in fact, he was an innocent victim.

Anamul was released without charge.

I'm very sorry about the upset that will have been caused to Mr Haque and to his family

but there is absolutely no alternative in terms of our actions.

It appeared that he was the perpetrator of the fraud.

So who was this faker who'd stolen Anamul Haque's identity

and used it to extract money from other victims?

His name was Alexandru Hincu,

and he lived in North London at one of the other addresses

raided by Trading Standards and police that same morning.

Hincu was arrested.

Mr Hincu admitted to receiving over £3,000 in terms of payments.

We're not sure whether that is the full scale of his operation

because Ukash payments were also going to accounts that had been

set up outside the United Kingdom that we were unable to trace.

Hincu was making thousands from Ukash payments

for fake criminal records checks for fake jobs.

And he's not the only one.

Action Fraud has reported several other examples of advanced fee scams

targeting job-seekers.

What the targets don't realise is that being asked

for a criminal record check up front is clear indication of fakery.

You will never be asked for a criminal record check for working

in a call centre, working in a shop, customer service roles,

travel and retail.

Adrienne Kelbie is chief executive

of the Disclosure and Barring Service,

which administers the UK's criminal record checks.

A criminal record check is required

when people wish to work in jobs with the vulnerable,

whether that's children, or elderly, or vulnerable adults.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with checking out criminal records

for people in general jobs.

Job seekers who do require a genuine check will rarely pay for it

themselves and never in advance.

A reputable employer will only ask them for those checks

post interview.

They should never be asked to either pay up front or fill in a form

before they've been offered a job after a thorough interview process.

But for many of the targets, the effects go far beyond

a fake criminal record check and the loss of 50 quid.

These people are vulnerable.

They pay money that is sometimes

very difficult for them to get hold of.

Then they attend for a job, delighted to have received a job,

and the disappointment they must feel

when they turn up for an induction to find they've been

a victim of a scam, must be heartbreaking for them.

And for a few people, the results are even more devastating.

One of the victims had actually lost a contract job

as a result of believing that he had full time employment.

He'd told his contractor that he was unable to attend

because he'd been given a full time job and they promptly sacked him.

So what can you do if you're applying for jobs online

and don't want to get caught out by the fakers?

I'd urge people to be very careful in terms of supplying personal

information on the internet, and to be very careful about sending

money to individuals that they've had no contact with at all.

It's probably very wise, if you're getting something that appears to be

from a legitimate company, just to Google that company online

and to try and contact them themselves before you send them any money.

The faker, Alexandru Hincu, pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court

and received a six month suspended prison sentence,

and 180 hours community service.

He was also ordered to pay compensation to his targets.

Neither Hilton hotel nor Ukash had any knowledge of,

or involvement in, the crime.

Anamul now has a job working as a photographer

but he's still angry about what happened.

I didn't get the job, my £50 went,

my personal information is out there.

I got arrested, I got dragged down to the police station.

It's upsetting to me. It was upsetting.

And Mahveen is now employed at Manchester Airport.

But she's still upset by the whole experience.

They played with my emotion.

Not even with my money, but with my emotion as well.

They played with my family's emotion as well

and I will never forgive them for that.

One of the most callous types of fakery we've seen

here on Fake Britain is when the criminals get involved with

products for children and we have yet another example right here.

This happy little reptile is called a Twilight Turtle, but

while this is the real deal, all his little friends here are turtle fakes.

Far from being a fun, comforting and educational night

light for a child, they are in fact potentially dangerous.

A Twilight Turtle is a soft toy and night light rolled in to one.

It's made by American manufacturer Cloud B.

The name and the shape of the toy are protected by trademark.

Jeff Weller is a lawyer who fights the fakers on behalf of the company.

Twilight Turtle is a night light designed to help young

children, of any age really, sleep.

As well as being soothing, the turtle is also educational.

The design represents real constellations,

so parents can teach their children about the night sky.

The various constellations are set out on the shell, so that when the

LEDs shine through, they project on to the ceiling and around the room.

A real Twilight Turtle will set you back about £30.

But you can buy an imposter online at a lower price.

And like any imposter, these phoney turtles are not to be trusted.

As Karen Surette found out when she went to buy presents

for her great niece and nephew's birthdays.

One is one in November and the other is one in December.

So I was looking for something special, something different, that

could have been a combined Christmas and birthday present for them.

Karen searched online for gift ideas and discovered the Twilight Turtles.

When I saw the turtles, they just seemed so loveable.

I could just imagine a child wanting it at the side of the bed

every night.

Just looking at those lights and just peacefully going off to sleep.

Karen bought two turtles online, costing £19.99 each.

They arrived in the post two days before the birthday party.

I opened the wrapping and the boxes were destroyed.

The boxes were smashed. And they didn't look very professional.

What was inside was even worse.

Immediately, out pops a plug.

Doesn't actually have any English writing on it at all.

There's no safety standards on it and it's all in Chinese.

Before we take the turtle out, there is

a screwdriver that we just randomly find in the box.

Pretty lethal for a child.

I dread to think that if I'd have given these toys to my niece and

nephew to open themselves what would have happened with that screwdriver.

The injury they could have given themselves.

And then the turtle, which is not very well made

and this plastic is very sharp on the edges.

The buttons are very wobbly. The fabric is coming away underneath.

And it's very cheaply glued.

So, not happy at all.

The turtles were fake.

There was no way Karen could give them to the children.

I could have cried because I was so excited to get the turtles.

When I realised we had bought fakes, it was anger and sadness.

Yeah.

In his pursuit of the fakers,

trademark attorney Jeff Weller has amassed an army of fake

turtles that's like an invasive species,

threatening the survival of the originals. Ooh!

So this is a small selection of counterfeit turtles that we've

obtained through test purchases and as you can see,

on first inspection, they all look quite similar.

So here we have one original turtle and that's this one.

And the key thing you can see is that this has the Cloud B logo,

on the bottom of the shell at the back, whereas the other

counterfeit turtles don't have that on their shell.

At first glance, the fake turtles seem to be quite convincing copies.

It's when you look closer that the cracks begin to appear.

On this fake, this came in the box like this.

With the crack through the shell.

Which certainly would stop it working well,

as well as being a danger with the snapped plastic.

Additionally, the quality of the turtle underneath

the shell in the fakes is variable, to say the least.

This came in the box with the fluff already falling out.

And if you try to teach your children about the night sky using

a fake turtle, they could end up rather confused.

On the original, you have the constellations here,

with the crescent moon on my right.

And on the fakes, the constellations are the wrong way round.

The crescent's on the other side.

This kind of highlights part of the problem that is facing

the Twilight Turtle, in that it's a high quality original here

being swamped by a growing army of counterfeits.

The poor quality of the fakes can also be seen when you turn them on.

If we take the original away,

see, that's the constellation with the crescent moon on the left.

The original there.

And then take the counterfeit away,

you see a much clearer star pattern, much more detailed.

The crescent moon's up on the right.

And also very clearly different impact as a lamp in the room.

If you shell out for a fake, you're clearly getting ripped off,

but that's not the worst thing that could happen.

There could be a risk that the electrics would go wrong,

maybe resulting in fire.

We don't know what would happen if a child chewed, swallowed,

played too vigorously with this toy, whether it would break,

we don't know what the chemicals, the materials,

what effects they would have because we just don't know

the quality or the standards these have been produced to, if any.

To find out how unsafe the fake turtles really are,

we took a couple to toy testing specialist Dr David Elks at Intertek.

So, we've got two turtles here, one is real, one is fake.

Just a quick look shows we've got labels, we've got

a manufacturer, we've got CE mark, we've got some instructions

and here we've got no labels, no markings

and we can see stuffing, so under the toy safety directive,

this would be a straight fail

because we've got a choking hazard potential from the stuffing.

Next, Dr Elks tests the durability of the toy,

using a seven kilogram weight to mimic children's rough play.

Ready?

RIPPING SOUND

Or not.

That is not what is supposed to happen!

We've torn the whole side of the toy, which again,

where we've got stuffing exposed at the base,

we've now got it all round the sides as well.

When the genuine turtle is put through the same test,

it passes with flying colours.

There you go.

No ill effect.

The fake turtle has already failed to meet toy safety standards

and shouldn't be allowed on sale.

But Fake Britain wanted to see what might happen

if a fault with the turtle's wiring were to cause a spark.

Electrics testing expert Ray Jeffries does a very simple test to see

what might happen if the toy were to catch fire.

Plastic used to make children's toys should be fire retardant.

This plastic material should self-extinguish in 30 seconds.

We've got flaming droplets coming off. It's just burning.

There's no flame retardant in the plastic whatsoever.

There's no doubt in my mind that a fault on the electronics,

in certain circumstances, the product could actually catch fire

and cause a very serious fire and I should imagine as well toxic fumes.

The fake turtle has well and truly failed the safety tests.

It's not just turtles.

Another product, the Twilight Ladybug, is also being faked.

And the fakes are a major cause of concern for the manufacturer.

We feel that 25 to 50% of the market

out there could be counterfeit products.

Sometimes we're dealing with EBay or Amazon sellers who may be

selling themselves tens to hundreds or it may even be in the thousands.

So the numbers are very high.

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

what can you do?

Watch out for big price differences between the turtle you're

seeing for sale and the price that we sell this for.

That should be an indicator this possibly isn't an original

being sold.

Karen's experience has left her disappointed

and wary of buying anything on the internet.

It's very sad that there are people out there selling these products

to unsuspecting members of the public with no regard to safety.

Items that could harm their child.

Martial arts are booming in Britain,

with thousands of people keen to learn new skills or just keep fit.

Of course, the first thing most people do

when they have a new passion is buy all the kit and it can be expensive.

This is Thai boxing equipment.

It's supposed to protect people in a very physical sport.

The problem is it's all fake. The fakers, of course,

are a lot more interested in making money than keeping us safe.

This is Muay Thai, or Thai boxing. Flippin 'eck.

You wouldn't want to mess with these guys, would you?

Some very unwise fakers are doing that by selling fake Thai

boxing equipment.

Today, more and more of us

are recognising the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle

and thanks to our new focus on fitness,

martial arts like Thai boxing have taken off.

There are now more than 400 gyms in the UK offering Thai boxing

classes at all levels,

from fitness fans who enjoy the exercise to high level

amateurs who relish the challenge of going a few rounds in the ring.

Paul Hamilton's the president of the UK Muay Thai Federation.

Thai boxing is dramatic,

it's exciting, you've got hands, legs, knees, elbows,

so you've got a game of chess with a lot of action.

Many of those who take part in Thai boxing classes do so just

for the exercise and have never come face to face with an opponent.

But for those who do progress into the ring,

like this intermediate class, injury's a very real possibility.

You can get a broken jaw, you can get a broken leg.

It's part of the game.

To protect themselves and each other from harm,

participants use a variety of protective gear.

Two of the most popular brands are Fairtex and Twins.

At Stars Thai Boxing Gym in London's Battersea, head coach

Matty Parks keeps a selection of equipment for novice fighters.

We have 16 ounce gloves. They might look a bit old,

but they're still very firm at the front. So there's

no chance of people's knuckle coming through in the padding.

Shin protection, they're very firm at the front,

so there's not going to be so much trauma to the leg

if you happen to take quite a strong leg kick.

Full face head guard here.

This area here stops pretty much any kind of bruising around the face.

But of course the fakers don't worry about health and safety

and with Muay Thai one of the fastest growing sports in the UK,

they've been quick to spot an opportunity.

A pair of genuine boxing gloves costs from around £80,

but you can buy a fake pair online from around 40.

Fakes... Fakes, fakes, I see quite a bit of it.

Yeah, especially from people that are getting into it first time.

Luckily, for one faker, when justice finally caught up with him,

it wasn't one of these guys,

but the very gentle Tim Keohane from Caerphilly Trading Standards.

We were contacted by the brand holder

and they'd seen a business in our area advertising their equipment.

And it was quite clear to them, just from looking at the images,

that it was counterfeit.

So we were able to get a warrant from the magistrates

and raid the premises.

Trading Standards see 64 fake Fairtex and Twins punchbags,

as well as boxing gloves and head guards.

The total value was over £7,000.

Here we are in our secure storage facility where we keep all

the fakes that we've seized over the years.

We've got everything you could think of here, electrical goods,

tobacco, of course clothing, makeup, footwear...

You name it, we've got it.

You can see the punchbags, just over 60 of them,

they go back into the store there.

As well as a selection of some of the gloves and the head guards.

Unsurprisingly, Fairtex and Twins weren't too happy

about their products being faked.

The sale of counterfeits affects businesses in two ways, really.

Obviously, it's taking money out of their pockets

because they're not selling their goods

because the fakes are being sold and also there's a reputational damage.

These goods are inferior in quality.

If they fall apart after a few uses,

obviously it affects the good name of the product.

But the fakes have another far more serious effect.

If you're wearing fake shin pads and you kick someone,

you could break your tibia so easy.

If I punch you and I've got insufficient

padding on my hands, I could do serious trauma to your face.

If you wear a fake head guard, what price do you put on your brain?

It could be rib injuries, it could be knee injuries,

ankle injuries, foot injuries.

It's happened numerous times with people who wear fakes.

Paul has seen first hand the damage that fake equipment can do.

One of my guys came in with a fake pair of gloves on.

I told him they were fake. Didn't basically listen.

Went on the pads with another guy, threw a left hook.

The next thing, he screamed. Took his glove off, broke his wrist.

We took the fake equipment seized by Trading Standards to be

assessed by experts Paul and Matty.

Can you tell the difference between the fakes, how you can

press your fingers in and feel your fingers on the other side?

Yeah, you can squeeze through the padding quite easily.

Punching someone, your knuckles would come right

-through on that shot.

-Yeah.

-Cause someone damage.

Six weeks of proper training on proper bags are going

to break that padding.

He's going to jump in the ring and instantly break someone's nose

and if you look at the real ones, you can feel that padding is going to last a lot longer.

These have been specially built to punch people in the face,

whereas these have been specially built to rip people off.

100%.

The lack of proper padding is just as obvious in the fake head guard.

One of the most important things in a Thai boxing gym, if you're a bit of a novice.

If you just even point them at the camera, it's just like...

-You can see...

-See the difference.

-Massive difference between the two different items.

But it's the padding. It's just non-existent, really.

And this is what's supposed to be protecting your face and your head.

You might as well put a plaster on your head with this. I mean...

-If I press that in there, the actual indent stays in, look.

-Yeah.

In short words, this head guard, it is what it is - it's rubbish.

The fake punchbags are just as bad.

-You don't need to be a brain surgeon to work out that's fake.

-Fake.

Er...

If I bought that for my gym, I think it'd last about a week

and the lads would have a hole in it. The stitching's actually sharp.

-That stitching there is actually...

-Yeah, it's going to cut your shins when you kick it.

-Yeah.

And then inside, let's see what surprises we've got.

What's that?! Someone's knickers?!

Yeah. I think they went out of fashion a while ago.

What the hell is...?

OK. It's ladies' underwear. Lots of ladies' underwear.

If you're ever not sure if you bought a fake bag,

have a look in the top.

If I go down too deep, I might find someone.

Unlike the fake bags,

a professional punchbag is tightly packed with finely shredded cotton.

-It's ridiculous.

-It's just cheap.

I mean, if you're paying nearly to the value of what a real one is,

you're definitely getting ripped off.

Paul Hamilton is angry that the fakers are taking

advantage of Thai boxing's rising popularity.

The people that are copying the stuff don't care

about the people that are wearing them.

They don't care about the sport.

They don't care about the health of someone.

They just care about how much money they're making.

And the message for the fakers is clear - for goodness' sake,

you're messing with the wrong people.

That's all from Fake Britain. Goodbye.