Fake pants worth £1.5m seized in Christmas counterfeits crackdown

Fake Calvin Klein underwear worth £1.5m has been seized by the UK intellectual property regulator and border officials in the run up to Christmas.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) said its recently impounded counterfeit brands also included Dyson fans (worth over £180,000), Nike shoes (worth nearly £5,760) and Superdry hoodies (worth around £100,000).

Other recently seized fake items include 16,000 Gillette razor blades, Apple chargers, Pandora charms, Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund football shirts, and Spiderman, Pokemon and Hello Kitty hand-held fans.

The IPO office said it revealed the information to alert the public about the dangers of buying fake items, as counterfeiters respond to trends for popular gifts over the festive period.

Ros Lynch, director of copyright and enforcement at the Intellectual Property Office, said: "Those involved in counterfeiting are in the business to take advantage of consumers and make huge profits in the process.

"The goods are often of inferior quality, dangerous and the proceeds can be used to fund other serious organised crime. Counterfeiters have a total disregard for safety or quality, and even if items look genuine at first, they may end up being a dangerous or inferior copy.

Once items are seized, Border Force's specialist international trade teams work with the owners of big brands to establish whether or not goods are genuine. If they are fake, the goods are destroyed and the rights holders can then decide whether to privately prosecute the importers.

Border Force (South) director Sue Young said counterfeiters will look to capitalise and cash in where there is a demand for a product and this year officials have seized all sorts of fake goods - from beauty products to food and electrical goods.

"We urge consumers to be careful with their purchases. If the price appears too good to be true - either at a car boot sale, a market stall or online - it probably is."