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NYPD snags $1M in Chinatown fakes – Crain’s New York Business — Every so often they do this bust and I’m never sure how they value the bust. Is a $12 fake Rolex valued at $12 or $1200? But what got my attention was the rationale: “Quality of Life Violations.” How is buying a $14 Cartier rip-off a quality of life issue and why is it negative? It seems the opposite to me since it makes people feel better to wear big brands knowing they got them cheap. Nobody thinks they were real. Seems like “newspeak” if you ask me. I’m getting a little concerned.
More than $1 million of counterfeit Gucci, Prada, Fendi, Rolex and Coach goods have been seized in an early morning Chinatown raid by the mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement.
The raid Tuesday came after a two-month investigation by city officials in the special unit, which was created in 2006 to crack down on trademark counterfeiting and other quality of life violations.
The special enforcement unit includes police, building inspectors and finance inspectors. According to a spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, investigators made dozens of undercover purchases of illegal goods, including handbags, perfume, clothing and jewelry, in an area known as the “Counterfeit Triangle.”
The area is bounded by Canal, Walker and Centre streets, and consists of 32 stalls and storefront shops.
Chinatown is the scariest place I’ve ever been.
One of my techs bought one of these for $50.00. He was proudly showing it to me, dropped it, and it stopped working. I was laughing my ass off……….., it hasn’t worked since….and I’m still LMAO. But yeah, the Quality of life thing is total BS.
Ok, I’m going to sell you a Rolex for $12 and it’s not fake?
Oh, Please! The person buying the fake knows it’s a fake and Rolex isn’t loosing a dime because the buyer isn’t going to ever buy a Rolex. The reason for the bust is solely because the name brands have to protect their brand from becoming public property. (Legally, if you don’t protect your name, it goes public under Fair Use).
You know the funny thing about all this, and I’m not kidding, is to go to any watch shop in Shanghai or Beijing and ask them if it is a real Rolex and they will tell you the truth! They tell you straight up that it’s a fake! I know, on my last trip we asked at least a dozen shops and got the same answer every time!
One thing we Americans don’t grasp is the entire knock-off culture. Although it has been used on occasion to pass off a cheap copy as the real thing to select morons, by and far it has been to help those among us sport status symbols we could never actually afford. It actually IMPROVES the quality of life when you understand what you are getting.
The Chinese understand this, so the bust in Chinatown is a joke if it is a “quality of life” issue.
This was part of the whole voyage of discovery that #3 refers to – when the import firm I worked for made the transition from Japan to Taiwan in the 70’s – before we made the next logical step to the Mainland.
It became a competition among peers in the company who made the trip to Taiwan to see who got the best Rolex copy for the least money. No one was fooled or misled.
Sure, it’s different in the East Village or Chicago’s Gold Coast – or in a city that boasts a Chinatown; but, then, you’re usually being hustled by Americans.
Better put off my purchasing trip to NY for a few weeks.
Sort of a tangent, but there was a really interesting thread on slashdot today.
If intellectual property is actual property, why is it not subject to property tax?
It is sad, but I would rather the NYPD roust them once and a while rather than having Homeland Security bothering. Hell, I am amazed they did not tie it to terrorism. Then they could go all patriot act on them. Didn’t you know that counterfeit products kill MILLIONS OF CHILDREN every year? I saw that on Law and Order.
This is just so disingenuous.They have to come up with the dazzling numbers to justify the fact that they’re wasting police resources enforcing trademarks. It’s not like someone buys a counterfeit Rollex instead of a real one. You by a counterfeit because you can’t afford a real one.
It’s a “Quality of Life Violation” because cheap fake devaluate the real items and the police are there to protect the interests of the upper classes.
#9
If Rolex sold their watches for $12 instead of $1200, only then it would not be acceptable to make knock-offs? What about $50? What about $120? Where is the break point between when it is acceptable to make fake copies of a brand name and when it is not?
the real question is, how much are the real rolexes worth really?? If i can make a cheap knock off then the markup on the the “real” deal must be enormous, nothing like a foll and their money……..
and there are plenty of fools…………
As someone who used to work at an Authorized Rolex Dealer, the real problem isn’t the $12 fakes, it’s the $300 ones. The makers of the fakes have gotten good enough that they can make watches that LOOK almost exactly like Rolexes, but are not near the same quality. This causes problems when the original buyer, who maintained it was a real Rolex all along, dies, and then heirs get very very pissed when they learn the resale value is about the same as a used piece of chewing gum.
That being said, unless you really are a diver and you need a dive watch, the Rolex brand is pretty much just for show. There are much better brands out there, which require less servicing, and keep better time, all at a lower price point. IWC and Cyma come to mind for that category.
Lets see…
$1m in FAKES at original Price… is ALOT of CRAP. and NOT even a DROP in the bucket.
$1m in fakes at SRP..(what they sell them for?) would be ABOUT 1/100 of the first, and 1/100 of the catch, and probably 1 STORE.
$1m at EQUAL price to ORIGINAL product?? is about Equal to 1 guy selling on the Street corner.
So, take your pick.
This is STILL a drop in the bucket, of the CRAP thats being sold. Look up LEXMARK.
It’s really just a PR stunt. The NYPD realizes that this won’t stop this stuff from happening and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the companies being copied didn’t make a nice donation to the right organization.
I do wonder if it’s trademark counterfeiting if they alter the names a bit like Rollex instead of Rolex. I have a wallet from Canal street that says Kenneth Kole I’ve owned for years. Maybe that’s the reason for changing the name.
>>>Every so often they do this bust and I’m never sure how they value the bust. Is a $12 fake Rolex valued at $12 or $1200?
I have the same question regarding figures used by Microsoft for piracy.
I did a quick Google and they claim something like $180 billion dollars will be lost to software piracy over the next four years.
Is this the retail price _IF_ the software had been purchased?
But how many copies of Vista would they have sold, if it cost an Indian over three month’s wages?
Some person told me they got a Rolex. I said, who gives a rats ass.
#12, Brandon,
Or a pilot. To heck with that status stuff. A quick +8 to -4 g’s or 14,000 ft. to sea level in minutes, icing to 110F. Would you rely on a Timex?
You guys nailed it: People buy an expensive Rolex to pretend they need one.
People buy fake Rolex to pretend they have a life. Either be it a $12 or a $1200 one.
I am amazed they didn’t get busted earlier what with every other person saying “gucci”, “Prada” etc as you walk past them. They say it as one word when you pass them.
Also everyone says they are fakes. There is no assumption that it’s the real thing.
#18 No, I would rely on a Casio G-Shock.
As anybody who lives in NYC knows that this has been going on for a long time…..the cops a sweep
every so often and the merchants accept this as the cost of doing business…….. and the city benefits by the hordes of tourist who go there every day….as for the better quality of life is
a total BS
The real issue with the chinatown fakes is not the products themselves, but the fact that they help finance illegal activity all over the world. If anybody has any sort of doubt about the criminal control over Canal Street, just walk through there with a video camera. You’ll have a about 2 asian guys tailing you in under a minute. If you want more proof, then start trying to get interviews from the shopkeepers and see how nice the reception is. Most of the products sold on Canal Street are made in China…many of them made in the same factories as the original, with employees working in horrific conditions. It is basically their night job.
@#22: If anyone have lived in NYC for a long time they’ll remember the days when you were constantly approached by people selling obviously stolen goods, when your car window would likely be smashed in minutes for the radio even just a block from the Police station (by those same people who were selling stolen stuff) where weird types would smear your windshields for money and where there were actual burning barrels in the middle of the streets. I have seen all this as recently as 1992. Well, all those “unchangeable” issues of “quality of life” have been changed. Crooks under pressure went for the Newark and more distant enforcement-lax cities where their “work” is easier. Fake goods are closely related with the crime. Pressing against them will make these crooks go to SF, LA or elsewhere where the quality of life is not a priority. And bring their fraction of the crime with them. This actually works and I can now in 2008 walk 120’s streets without apocalyptic burning barrels and MadMax characters around.
#21, Steve-O, the G-shock sounds good to me. How about an Orion XG-55? It’s got just about everything a pilot could need, rugged and inexpensive as well.
Thomas, I don’t think Rolex sells a watch that is as inexpensive as $1200 USD. I think the cheapest Rolex is the Air King, ~$3800 USD.
Besides, if you were a (w)hor(e), you’d be interested in Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, IWC, Patek Philippe, Ulysse Nardin, etc.
I’ve bought watches on Canal St and 57th St. I enjoy them all.
Since when has a Rolex been a status symbol? Back when The DeLorean was considered “cool”?
i love chinatown fake rolexs they are awesome
Where an oppportunity to make money exists, someone will step in. What this points out is how heavily marked up the “Brand” products are, that Canal St. can sell $40 to $100 knock-offs of purses, watches, etc. and people will flock to buy them.
Reminds me of the days when IBM and HP desktops were 3 times as expensive as the cheap generic boxes. Suddenly those companies discovered the name was worth something, but not as much as they thought. Guys like Dell made their fortune on that.
I AM surprised it was not linked to “terrorism”. I guess that meme is getting too tired, thankfully.
There are rich people who wear Casio and drive Mercedes and there are poor people who buy real Rolex with their credit card. I would never ask someone if they are wearing a fake watch unless I knew them very, very well. Lowest price Rolex in my town is about 3800. The store that sells them has their own credit card. A college kid could get approved for credit, buy a Rolex and make minimum payment for the rest of their natural life. I wear a stainless steel Victorinox watch that suits me fine.