Counterfeiting in Bangladesh

 Counterfeiting in Bangladesh

 

 

Counterfeiting has become a real concern in Bangladesh. It becomes very difficult to compare between real and fake products. Those fake products look similar to original product but sold at less price. I found from internet that counterfeiters have been able to set up small backyard factories and centers for the production of fake products by the use of easy production and technological advances. They also make fake labels and packaging to cheat consumers. Counterfeiters refill or repackage duplicate products using the packaging of original products. It has been observed that several products, including old plastic water bottles, are being repackaged and sold in the market. Consumers and brand owners both have lost due to entrusted duplicate products.

 

In the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector the counterfeit market is increasing at a rate of 44.4 percent per year. There is increasing usage of e-commerce websites for internet purchases and financial transfers. Consumers, users, and reputable businesses have become frustrated by the distribution of counterfeit products, especially fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) and transactions with fake accounts. I found on internet that due to counterfeit products, real FMCG suppliers lose 30% of their market share. There are fake toothbrushes such as Sensodyne, Colgate, Oral-B, and Dr. West, ball pens such as Linc and Fort, and herbal incense sticks. The government's total income growth is being affected by loss in tax return and customers are more likely to develop various illnesses as a result of consuming such bad counterfeit items. There are also counterfeit cosmetics such as Fogg, Cobra, Parachute Coconut oil, La Bamba, Orange body spray, etc. There are even fake baby products such as Johnson & Johnson, Kodomo, Cetaphil, Huggies, etc. Those are produced from harmful and toxic chemicals that cause various diseases such as cancer. There is also a huge amount of counterfeit medicine in Bangladesh. During the Covid-19 outbreak, a number of fake or lookalike hand wash products of well-known brand names hit the market. I learned that these fake medicines are created at Gazipur's capital, Uttara, Fakirapool, Chawkbazar, and Tongi, and then sent to various renowned drug stores that are charged high prices. There are fake post-operative antibiotics like cephradine and hydrocortisone are manufactured by a number of firms. It is surprising to know that Bangladesh manufacture and export drugs but still there are fake drugs. I found in newspaper that according to the Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Industry Association, yearly sales of counterfeit medications in Bangladesh exceed Tk 1,500 crore that is 20% of total sales.

 

 

Counterfeiting of wearing accessories is also very common. There are fake T-shirts, shirts, jeans, etc. of well-known brands such as Armani, Fendi, Gucci, Ralph Lauran, etc. Counterfeit footwear is also distributed in local shops in many shopping centers located in Elephant Road, Gulistan, etc. Most of the fake footwear are Nike, Puma, Adidas, etc. There are also fake watches in Bangladesh in many local shops such as Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe, Gucci, etc. There are even fake watches of Nika and Puma. There is also fake jewelry in almost every local shop in shopping centers. There are fake earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets, brooches, etc. Some of them are named popular brands such as Cartier, David Yurman, Harry Winston, etc. There are Counterfeit handbag and wallets in almost every local shop in shopping centers. There are fake handbags and wallets of popular brands such as Burberry, Calvin Klein, Gucci, Hermes, etc. I remembered last year I went to Gulistan and bought a Gucci brand wallet that just cost 100 Tk and I still use it.  There are counterfeit consumer electronics such as TVs, cellphones, accessories, etc. There are counterfeit products of well-known brands such as Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic, etc. There are also counterfeiting of computer accessories of famous brand such as TwinMos, Kingston, Rapoo, Adata, Asus, Hoco, etc. I remembered I bought a fake TwinMos pen drive for 500 Tk that did not last long. I read in a blog that e-wastes are illegally shipped to developing countries mainly India and China. Then workers search and pick components through toxic electronics dumps to recycle. After finding components they will go for production of fake products and sell to black market that are offered mainly in bulk on online brokerage sites. Finally, middlemen buy those products. In Bangladesh these products are imported and also some are made. The government may shut down the counterfeit website but they can open another website very quickly.

 

Counterfeit optical media is very common in Bangladesh. Software piracy is huge the piracy rate is 92%. Pirated software includes operating systems, systems software like databases and security packages and application software like office packages, finance and tax packages and PC computer games. A friend of mine bought a pirated software disk of Microsoft Office 2019 for 60 TK from Gulistan. However, buying CDs and DVDs has reduced globally. People can find anything on the internet. Today people can download pirated software from various websites for free that I use pirate bay. I have downloaded Microsoft Office 2019 crack version for my mac that was totally free. I also download pirated movies, books, video courses, etc. from those websites. There is also counterfeiting of toys in Bangladesh. Most of the toys in Bangladesh are fake and dangerous. I learned from internet that toxic chemicals are typically used in fake toys. There are heavy chemicals such as lead and phthalates that harm young children. Phthalates have been related to cancer among other dangers and are believed to create permanent harm to essential organs. There is another aspect of toys is the size of objects and how well they are shaped so that they do not end up in small children's mouths. Stuffed teddy bears are an example. Each component must follow strict requirements that counterfeiters hardly meet. There are other counterfeits products such as plush toys, electric toys, Lego, Super Mario, etc. Sometimes there are also fake foods in the market. There was fake rice, eggs, oil, etc. that are harmful to the human body and banned by government as soon they were detected. There was also a counterfeit of Bangladesh currency that is totally illegal. RAB sieged those fake notes and arrested those people. There is also fake cigarettes of high-priced brands most are British American Tobacco.

 

Overall, people of Bangladesh are facing a lot of problems due to fake products. There is less supervision from officials, poor regulations that affect people easily. However, protecting customers' rights and the market image of reputable businesses has become a major challenge. Hopefully government will take right action for the betterment of the economy. However, I watched on television that there are new and innovative packaging technologies where counterfeiters have difficulty copying FMCG products with success in recent years. Many businesses are adopting the use of security labels, security logos, barcodes, and other technology to protect their names from the threat of counterfeiting.