wheaton26 Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 today i received my latest edition of watchtime magazine. in a small blurb on page 28 they mention the latest crackdown on replica watches. they listed the "federation of the swiss watch industry" (fh) website as an avenue to report the marketing of counterfeit watches. not only that, but they've also created a fake website to lure replica watch consumers. when you click on anything there, it forwards you to a scare tactic page highlighting the dangers of buying replicas. all of this led me back to the fh website where i found the complete acrticle below ... FH Internet Unit Convincing Results (January 26, 2011) In contrast with the world economy, the FH Internet Unit had an extremely good year in 2010, with results showing a marked upturn. The number of auctions of counterfeit watches withdrawn from the web by the FH Internet Unit for all platforms at a world level broke briskly through the 300,000 barrier for the first time last year. In view of the staggering number of fake Swiss watches on offer, Asian platforms in particular, headed by alibaba.com and DHGate.com, grabbed the attention of FH sleuths. And while initially it was not easy to establish cooperation with the legal services responsible for these sites, results are now promising. No significant improvement was noted however on the American platform iOffer.com, which takes no serious measures either to automatically eliminate auctions that ostensibly offer counterfeit products or to detect repeat offenders. This platform will therefore be the next priority target of the FH Internet Unit. Keeping pace with the growing number of auctions requires better methods for detecting and processing offers. The Internet Unit has therefore continued to develop and automate systems enabling it to extract information from relevant pages, achieving gains both in effectiveness and efficiency. A new strategy has also been developed for sites dedicated to the sale of counterfeit goods, with the emphasis on taking to task those most damaging for the Internet Unit’s member brands. The classification of these sites is established by launching requests on the three most widely used search engines, using several different combinations of key words. Duplicates and non-relevant sites are then eliminated to establish the final classification. In addition, priority is given to hosts that can be qualified as black sheep, which accommodate significantly more illegal sites than others. Another highlight of the Internet Unit’s activity was the launch last October of the “decoy” website www.replicaswisswatch.com, which by the end of the year had already been consulted by more than 2,000 Internet users. This site, which introduces itself as an ordinary counterfeit site, then delivers a surprise to web surfers with a prevention message and a warning, with links to information pages concerning counterfeiting in general. Another measure designed to [censored] the conscience of consumers is a form made available to Internet users (www.fhs.ch/en/reportabuse.php) through which we can be notified of any kind of watch counterfeiting. Many Swiss and foreign media have applauded this initiative. Several contacts have been forged with the anti-fraud services of credit cards issuers, who seem more inclined than in the past to help rights holders, particularly by blocking online payment methods used by counterfeiters. It will be noted lastly that scientific research has not been omitted from the equation, since the FH helps actively to improve processing and analysis systems by collaborating with the Institute of Police Science of the University of Lausanne and the Haute école spécialisée bernoise, particularly on development of the WebIntelligence project, which will be presented in 2011. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 The old Honeypot technique... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 I don't mind if they're attacking those scam sites and Ioffer. It's all very shady business and those scammers deserve to be deleted. If places like Bestswiss and Replicacenter go down, I don't see any damage done. Au contrary. I like reps but I never had any illusions about the counterfeit manufacturers. They're crooks and criminals and it's only logical that authorities are interested. It's the name of the game. The members who buy are more like drug users... poor SOBs who can't control their addiction. That means we're innocent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z80 Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 Pretty soon you'll be going to someone's house to buy a rep Rolex and just as you are about to make the deal, Chris Hansen is going to round the corner and tell you to "Take a seat." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txcollector Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 Pretty soon you'll be going to someone's house to buy a rep Rolex and just as you are about to make the deal, Chris Hansen is going to round the corner and tell you to "Take a seat." maybe we need to be careful with GTG now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plaifender Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 No surprises here... The ever ending fight..... Replica production can't and NEVER will be controlled, if someone gets shut down.. someone else will open up. We've seen dealers, manufacturers and collectors come and go in this game and that aspect of the game will never change. The internet is too big and people are too smart for the swiss watch companies to win this war. Battles will be won and lost, but in the end, the war will always continue and they'll always be someone to buy from Kind of like the "war on drugs" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheaton26 Posted January 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 Pretty soon you'll be going to someone's house to buy a rep Rolex and just as you are about to make the deal, Chris Hansen is going to round the corner and tell you to "Take a seat." that's hilarious ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbullykurk Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 not much they can do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subbiesrock Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 maybe we need to be careful with GTG now There is SFA that anyone can do to you while in possession of counterfeit goods, or while purchasing. The seller is the person of interest. Even if a GTG were infiltrated, there is no legal recourse that can be taken against the members as far as I'm aware. Not a lawyer, but aware of most civil liberties and rights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 There is SFA that anyone can do to you while in possession of counterfeit goods, or while purchasing. The seller is the person of interest. Even if a GTG were infiltrated, there is no legal recourse that can be taken against the members as far as I'm aware. Not a lawyer, but aware of most civil liberties and rights Agreed, much bigger fish to fry than a few watch enthusiasts getting together-- most likely with GENs and REPs present. Local Law Enforcement wouldn't touch this, could you imagine the PR nightmare when they confiscate a genuine Rolex or other brand at one of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno_soel Posted May 21, 2011 Report Share Posted May 21, 2011 Pretty soon you'll be going to someone's house to buy a rep Rolex and just as you are about to make the deal, Chris Hansen is going to round the corner and tell you to "Take a seat." That will be hilarious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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