The issue is not about caring; it is more about doing. By definition, FakeNews is still News as the identification of it alone becomes the story. The UK Government has decided in its infinite wisdom that school kids should be taught about identifying Fake News. How and by whom? Even the sharpest brains can be fooled into believing something is true when it turns out to be fake. Modern ( and historic) finances are littered by Ponzi-type schemes.
Fake News Through The Ages
Since Homo Sapiens stood up on two legs, they have been spreading fake news. Sitting around the fireside telling all of their amazing feats of killing ginormous Sabre-Toothed Tigers with their bare hands. The Greeks sending what appeared to be a Gift from the Gods to the Gates of Troy, without telling the whole story that it was ram jam full of Ancient Greek special forces. Telling the British electorate on Brexit that the £350 million each week saved from EU contributions could be used for the NHS. Or that was how it was interpreted. All three illustrate how difficult it can be in deciding what is fake and what is not.
So, Fake News has been disseminating from early human speech (and probably before). What is happening now is that the means of spreading it are much more effective. But ’tis not that about which I wish to post. It is Fake Product. Not for the first time, yet I am constantly amazed at how much of it is clear for all to see.
Fake product takes varying disguises.
When Watches are being made and sold for tens of thousands of pounds( even millions) is it of any surprise to anyone that factories also churn out thousands of fakes that sell for a fraction of the price. These are proper illegal fakes. To the naked eye it is not easy to spot the difference. I know, as in years past, I have bought such copies (purely in the interest of research, of course ). I suspect that the makers of the Patek Phillipe are not that bothered. Their target market is never going to buy a fake. Those who buy fakes could never buy the real thing.
However, if you were looking to buy an Iphone for say £1000 and there was an Aphone that looked and performed in exactly the same way, at £400 you would be very tempted and it would quite clearly impact Apple’s Business. And does……
I was scammed myself with a fake iPhone 15 ProMax.
I was provided with the image of the back of the sealed iphone box and the Apple Store receipt. They matched. I verified the IMEI number on two IMEI checking site both showed as clear. I checked the serial number on the Apple support site it came up okay.
But, after I got the phone and turned it on I noticed the display wasn’t full size checked some other stuff. And things were starting to look weird. Plus I checked the MagSafe connection it wouldn’t stick.
I did notice after checking the scam box with a real iPhone box two things that were different. The iPhone image on the REAL box is raised noticeably. The fake felt like just a crease. The other thing that was more noticeable is the back of the box. The fake box had a sticker on the back which contained the phone’s information. On the real box that info is printed directly on the box.
I also did connect to my home wifi temporarily. My wifi app said that it connected as a Generic Brand Android device running Android Oreo 8.1
Physically the FAKE iPhone was perfect.
I bought this FAKE iPhone via Facebook marketplace.(This was not me)
There dozens of pages and videos on how to spot a fake iPhone.
On a much lower level, in an area of personal interest, are the marketplaces where some sellers sail very close to the wind.
This is taken from a seller on Amazon. It is described as Elsa Princess Costume. It does not mention Disney but for all intents and purposes, it is a knock off. The Vendor is based in China (Co. Name SHENZHENSHIYOULATESHIYEYOUXIANGONGSI) . Yes, it is real and registered by HMRC. Are they breaking any laws?
On a less severe note but equally a pain in the bum, is the practice of taking a lookey-likey, placing the product on an existing listing by a well-known brand. It does not say it is the same product, but looks very similar and is often a lot cheaper. Whilst it is not actually a criminal offence but is certainly against the policy of someone like Amazon. It is very difficult to monitor (even for Amazon) but needs to be done by the brand owner where possible .
The bottom line is that fake product is such big business and so profitable that even when the perpetrators are caught, there is always someone else to replace them. Bit like drug dealing, except the shipping companies will probably not get blown to smithereens by American missiles! Of course the fake items purchased on online marketplaces are unlikely to cause damage to the health of the nation. Unless they are cosmetics, medicines, knives, electrical goods, paints……
One would think that that Big Tech would have more control over this …..
Number of Products on Amazon
Last updated: June 25, 2025
Highlights. There are over 350 million products for sale on Amazon. Capital One Shopping Research
Even for them, it is a tough ask. And we must not forget Bricks and mortar outlets will also have fake products. Some knowingly, some not.
Fake & Dangerous Fakes
A Fake is one thing but a dangerous fake is another. Regrettably, there is a huge range of stuff where the the Fake is potentially very dangerous cosmetics, medicines, knives, electrical goods, paint, toys, and party items to name but a few. According to the consumer magazine ‘Which?’ it estimated that nearly 70% of cosmetics purchased online are fake.
The report revealed that counterfeit cosmetics can contain dangerous substances including animal faeces, urine, arsenic, lead and mercury, posing serious health risks including skin irritation, infections and chemical burns.-Which? Report June 2025
Sandwell Trading Standards warns families about dangerous fake toys this Christmas
…….Other toys, including K Pop Demon Hunter dolls and Marvel action figures, have also been identified as fakes. Further testing will now be carried out to check for excessive levels of phthalates – chemicals sometimes used to soften plastics. High levels of phthalates have been linked to long-term health problems, including potential harm to the reproductive system, liver damage and increased risks of cancer, asthma and allergies.
French Authorities have recently published a report saying they have stopped over 11 million toy items at the border from entering the marketplace. They are a mix of counterfeits, product failing to meet safety standards.
86% of toys sold online by non-European e-commerce retailers dangerous for children, study says
Le Monde December 23 2025
Fake Drugs -The Times 15th December 2025
Just because an item is cheap, looks ok and does the job doesn’t make it right.
According to the OECD the global market for fake products was just under $500 billion in 2021. Accounting for 2.3% of world trade. It will never be eradicated but it does not mean it should be encouraged. If a deal looks too good and invariably it is . And don’t think by buying it does no one any harm . It does. Someone out there in the chain gets hurt in one way or another .
Some will say “the likes of Apple make bucket loads of money anyway…so what”. Well Apple do make loads of dosh. But that doesn’t make it right. If they had not taken risks years ago investing loads of dosh in the technology, we may not have had smartphone technology. Naturally, the same can be said for many highly successful operations. James Dyson staked everything he had on his belief in his development with the first bagless vacuum cleaner….
“I made 5,127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it right. There were 5,126 failures.
The product has been copied relentlessly since it became a market success. This includes the Hoover Company who were successfuly sued for copying a key aspect of his technology. Dyson became and remains a multi-billionaire.
Little will change despite many Governments claiming they will make strenuous efforts to clamp down on such nefarious activity. Bit like drug dealers, the rewards far exceed the risks.
Whether manufacturer, importer, distributor, retailer, or consumer, we all need to take a close look at ourselves and ask ….
‘Am I, in any way, even in a very small way, slightly complicit?’
Fairies do not exist . Or so we are told . Pharaohs do. Or so we are told .
In a world where everyone is questioning everything, or rather everyone has their own version of what is true and everything thing else is fake news. As a consequence few really question what they are told Is true or not . Who knows what is really true?
An inherent consequence of too much consideration of the reality of the truth is that you are sucked into a giant vortex culminating in the creation or membership of a cult . Politics being quite clearly part of this vortex. Whilst the current U.K. Government has proved an extraordinary channel for non truths, let us not fall into the trap in thinking that all political party (present or past)do not use smoke & mirrors as a tool within their armouries . It is just the current Party in power is so blatant and blindingly obvious in its execution.
The following two headlines come from august web journals.
Tesco UK sales fall amid changing customer behaviour and surging inflation
Georgia Wright 17th June 2022 Retail Gazette
The supermarket chain Tesco has reported that like-for-like sales across the group rose 2 per cent in the first three months of its financial year
Richard Fletcher 17th June 2022 The Times Online Business Editor
Both are true.
The first excluded their Booker wholesale business and the second included it.
There are many different kinds of truth:
historical truth – truth based on evidence from documents or archaeology
artistic truth – something, which people read, see or hear, which appears true through how things are or how people behave
moral truth – people ‘know’ what is right or wrong without evidence to prove it
scientific truth – established by experiments that can be repeated and always produce the same result
absolute and relative truth – people may believe that some things are always true while others things may vary according to situation or circumstance
religious truth – people follow a religion and so discover the ‘truth’ which comes from God or a sacred text (bbc.com)
Which is all jolly interesting but not especially useful on a day to day basis. We all have decisions to make all day within our own businesses and often faced the dichotomy , as to whether answers given to questions are correct or truthful.
What is true ? October 31st is Halloween. December 25th is Christmas Day. Paris is the capital of France . Night follows day (or is it the other way around?). There are undoubtedly a bunch of immutable truths but that is not where the problem lies. Having discussed perception in a previous blog , I don’t feel it necessary to go over old ground. But there are often occasions where what is apparent truth to one, is completely opposite to another.
Absolute Truth – Inflexible Reality. “Absolute truth” is defined as inflexible reality: fixed, invariable, unalterable facts. For example, it is a fixed, invariable, unalterable fact that there are absolutely no square circles and there are absolutely no round squares.
My fictional illustration on how we encounter the complications of the ‘truth’ everyday in our businesses
Good Morning my good new supplier Regional Sales and marketing Executive Representative and channel manager.Tell what is your best selling item? That is always a good way to start a new supplier
Good morning my absolutely delightful new customer . How wonderful to meet you and your absolutely delightful store. That is course a very easy question to answer . Our Top selling item is product no 3210678. We sold nearly 2 million last year .
Wonderful ! I will have 50,000 to start with
Perfect , no problem (and a load more sycophantic clichés). Will have them delivered soonest . Thank you very much my absolutely delightful new customer
The Truth here is that the supplier did sell 2 million last year . The absolute truth is that all of those 2 million went to one event that occurred only last year and that was held a 1000 miles away and not one single piece was purchased by any other of that Good new Suppliers customer base. Hence the absolute Truth was something quite different . A somewhat simplistic extreme case , I admit. I would like to think illustrates the point. We are surrounded in every aspect of life with Fake news, Half truths , complete and utter rubbish ( so well documented in recent UK politics) but somewhere in all this we have to determine , on occasion what the truth means to us . We have to ask :
Are our suppliers telling us the truth ?
Are our customers telling us the truth ?
If the answer is an acceptable Qualified Truth (not absolute), is it workable?
Being bombarded daily by facts that are being constantly questioned (as they should be) , it becomes very tough to make considered judgments when you have to question and investigate all your own ‘considers‘ within that judgment call.
Only this week a customer asked me for my opinion, in terms of the economic outlook . They were not asking for a truth but an opinion. Yet have given what I thought was a considered answer , I had to question myself as to whether the truths (in this case past historical events) were in effect absolute or if not whether they had any material effect on my answer .
If we go back to the year 2000 , we were essentially told that diesel cars were not harmful to the environment. Consequently decisions were made because of a half truth and perhaps lack of examination by those making those decisions . Ownership then went from 2 million diesel cars to 7 million. The following examples are two very different lies. One contained a grain of truth , the other contained no grains.
Diesel
Mr Brown brought in a sliding scale for car tax or vehicle excise duty (VED), to make it cheaper for cars with lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming. This resulted in lower VED rates generally for diesel cars, which tend to be more fuel efficient. But they emitted greater quantities of other pollutants harmful to health, nitrogen oxides and particulates.
BBC Martin Rosenbaum 2017
Ponzi
Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant, made a fortune off of lying to people. In fact, he was so good at deception that the government named a type of fraud after him—the Ponzi scheme. In 1920, Ponzi tricked thousands of New England residents into investing in a postage stamp speculation scheme. He promised investors that he could provide a whopping 50 percent return in just 90 days. Each time a new investor gave him money, he’d use those funds to pay off earlier investors, creating the illusion that they were profiting from a legitimate business. At the height of his huge scam, he raked in $250,000 a day, about $3 million in today’s money. But his days of scheming and scamming caught up to him in August of 1920, when he was charged with 86 counts of mail fraud.
Ashley Lewis -Readers Digest June 2022
So it’s a bit like fairies and Pharaohs. We like to believe in Fairies, if we think we can make a fast buck (even though no one has ever seen one.)We believe in Pharaohs because historians tell us they existed, even though it was 2000 years ago and no one living has ever seen one.
“History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.”
George Santayana : 19th Century Philosopher & Novelist
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