Scam warning issued over pop-up perfume stalls selling fakes

People in Staffordshire are being reminded of the risks of buying and using counterfeit perfumes, following a recent seizure of items in the county.

Trading Standards officer supported by Staffordshire Police made the seizure on Newcastle High Street in July.

For sale on the pop-up stall, were popular brands including Lacoste, Gucci, Chanel, Emporio Armani and Hugo Boss.

Bottles were being offered for as little as £20 each. Fourteen bottles were confiscated with a street value of around £1,300.

More worryingly for officers was the fact that the sellers were reportedly approaching people and escorting them to local cash points to withdraw money to purchase the items.

Trading Standards officers are now warning shoppers to avoid these individuals and to report the activity to them on their fight the fakes hotline on 01785330356.

Officers are also keen to remind people that although the knock-down price of these goods can be appealing, counterfeit perfumes have previously been found to contain harmful chemicals and ingredients.

Victoria Wilson, cabinet member responsible for trading standards at Staffordshire County Council, said: “Perfumes are a high price item, which makes them attractive to counterfeiters which is why we're seeing the rise in availability.

“Buying fake perfume is really risky, not only will it not have been through the usual testing, but many have been found to contain harmful chemicals.

“We know it can be difficult to tell if something is fake or not, but if it's being sold at a knock-down price or being sold from a strange place, people should be extremely wary.

“We always say that if something is too good to be true, it usually is. It's always best to stick to recognised retailers.”

To help avoid counterfeit goods, people should look out for the "three Ps":

• Price: If the price looks too good to be true, it probably is.

• Packaging: If the product is being sold without its packaging, or the packaging appears to be of low quality, or includes printing errors (for example blurry pictures, typos, spelling or grammatical errors), it is probably counterfeit.

• Place: Consider where the product is being sold. If it's not in a recognised shop, ask yourself if you would normally expect to find the product sold in this type of environment. Deal only with legitimate, established retailers. If buying online, counterfeiters often steal pictures and formatting from the real websites to make their websites look legitimate, so don't be fooled by a professional-looking website. If you find typos, grammatical and spelling errors, or incomplete information, then the site is probably fake.

The goods were seized on 7 July. Further information on spotting and avoiding fakes is available on the Citizens Advice website.