The accessories made by Apple are not exactly cheap, but there are several third-party manufacturers that offer great products at more affordable prices. However, there is also an entire market for counterfeit accessories – and now Apple is doing everything it can to eliminate these products.
According to a new Bloomberg, Apple is aware that there are several vendors that use platforms like Facebook and Instagram to sell counterfeit Apple branded accessories. The most popular are Chinese copies of products like AirPods, Lightning cables, iPhone batteries and power adapters.
While these accessories may seem attractive to customers, as they cost up to 10 times less than those sold by Apple, counterfeit products can put the user at risk. This is what happened recently to Andrea Stroppa, a cybersecurity researcher. Stroppa borrowed an iPhone charger from a friend, but then the unexpected happened: the charger exploded while connected to power. Of course, it was a counterfeit charger.
Stories like Stroppa’s are far from uncommon when it comes to accessories purchased online from unknown sites. The report points out that the counterfeit accessories business is worth millions of dollars in the United States and Europe. Although Facebook says that selling counterfeit products on its social networks violates company policies, the researchers argue that Facebook fails to ban these sellers.
“Our study aims to expose Instagram’s difficulties or reluctance to properly handle its long-standing counterfeit market and also to highlight the many dangers of this type of illicit business for Apple and consumers,” said the researchers. Facebook is “guilty of not investing and adequately protecting American companies and citizens around the world who use its platform”.
A Ghost Data Team survey obtained by Bloomberg monitored 163 sellers of counterfeit Apple accessories on Instagram last month. The best-selling product of these sellers was replicas of AirPods Pro, followed by MagSafe Chargers. Although these products cost $ 249 and $ 39, respectively, at Apple, a store on Instagram was selling counterfeit versions for $ 25 and $ 5.50.
Instagram accounts in the study sent 50,000 sales posts last year, which generated about 600,000 likes and comments. The report includes accounts posted by counterfeit goods suppliers, including a seller who raised $ 140,000 in a single day from online sales through his personal HSBC bank account, Ghost Data reports.
Not everyone knows that they are buying a counterfeit product or understand the risks of doing so. An Apple spokesman said Bloomberg that the company is concerned with the risk that these accessories may pose to users. The company confirmed that it has a team dedicated to identifying and eliminating those sellers and e-commerce sites around the world that sell counterfeit Apple accessories.
“We have a dedicated team of experts who are constantly working with police, merchants, social media companies and e-commerce sites around the world to remove counterfeit products from the market. Last year, we sought to remove more than 1 million listings of Apple counterfeit and counterfeit products from online markets, including Facebook and Instagram. “
The full report can be found at Bloomberg’s websit, and definitely worth reading.
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