ON-LINE counterfeits

UK police took the unusual step of shutting down 1,200 websites set up to fleece customers or to sell counterfeit items. People looking for discounted stuff like Ugg boots, hair-straighteners or jewellery were getting either nothing or shoddy imitations for their cash. 'Operation Papworth' was launched to stop the criminal use of uk.co domain names. Read about it here. Police said organised criminal gangs were involved in the trade whose used the funds raised to finance other dodgy activities. It the first police operation of its kind. Now for those .com, .org, .tv...

FAKE electrical goods

Mobile phone chargers have long been a favourite of counterfeiters. They're easy to sell and the danger of causing a fire or electrocution is usually overlooked by bargain-hunters. Hair-straighteners, however, wasn't one that I'd thought about before. They're actually quite expensive to buy so there's a market for cheap alternatives. Read this warning.

SUPER dollar

Yesterday three men were convicted of a so-called tiger robbery in Dublin. A family was held hostage while a security guard was forced to hand over €2.28 million. One of those convicted is Christopher Corcoran who was mentioned in the 2004 Grand Jury indictment that also mentioned ex-IRA leader Sean Garland as a key player in a plot to sell forged €100 notes. Known as Superdollars, because of their very high quality, they can only be detected by forensic tests. It is thought that they are printed in North Korea, although conspiracy theories abound. Operation Mali, launched in the UK in 1998, saw three conspirators jailed including a former KGB officer David Levin. Investigators, who included two undercover US agents posing as a cigarette smugglers, discovered evidence that linked the plot to the Official IRA. Corcoran was arrsted in 2001 on the foot of warrants from UK police, while US authorities have made attempts to bring Sean Garland to a US court. Garland's case is currently before the High Court and is due for hearing again in October. Read the indictment here. There's a full account of the affair in The Fraudsters.

FAKE car-parts

One good thing about the recession, if you have the cash, are the number of high-end cars up for sale at knock down prices. What´s not so good is that counterfeiters have been active in the car trade for a long time. When times are bad the back market always kicks in. İndustry estimates put the global counterfeit car-parts business to be worth US$16 billion a year. Many of these are manufactured in the far-east and packaged as being from mainstream suppliers and can easily find their way into the market place through gullible buyers and unscrupulous distributors. Although second and third world markets have been the main targets, there have been cases in the European Union. İn 2005 French investigators seized a US$1.8 million stash of Taiwanese made fake car parts branded as Renault, Citreon and Peugeot. The parts included rear-view mirrors, wing mirrors and headlights. İn other cases critical safety features such as airbags and brake pads (made with compressed grass) have been found.

MORE holiday scams

Going shopping and looking for bargains is normal tourist behaviour. Just remember that watches, camcorders, DVDs, cameras, memory cards, games and much more are easily counterfeited. There's a huge global network shipping the stuff all over the world. The hawker in Lanzarote is selling the same stuff that's up for grabs on Times Square in New York. Expect the sales pitch: "These are made in the same factory where they make the real thing. They're just seconds." Watch out as well for fake sun-tan lotion - it may not offer any skin protection at all, while a cheap pair of sun-glasses will always have the sticker claiming it to have UV protection. The real designer glasses don't have those stickers. If you insist on buying the counterfeit stuff then pay cash - your credit card will almost certainly be skimmed before you get home. Relax and enjoy the holiday but don't leave your common-sense at the airport.