back to article Cops shut 28k sites flogging knock-off footie kits and other tat

Cops have closed 28,000 websites selling counterfeit goods over the last three years, the City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) revealed today. Out of those, more than 4,000 were registered using stolen identities of the UK public. Some 400 individuals have had their identity stolen and used in …

  1. wolfetone Silver badge
    Trollface

    Ah, so that's how Equifax got my details then?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No, Equifax was how the dodgy website get your details, but at least you got a knock off* designer shirt.

      *one that came out the back door of the sweatshop rather than the front door.

    2. TheVogon

      I suspect it was 28k urls and rather fewer sites....

  2. Antron Argaiv Silver badge

    One use card numbers

    The answer to online card fraud is the single use number. Works once, for the purchase you make, then never again.

    My card *used* to offer this, but the website on which you obtained the single use number went through so many changes that it eventually became unusable. Javascript, Flash (or Silverlight), Catchas, multiple requests to login etc. I should try it again, maybe they've had an outbreak of common sense.

    1. tony72

      Re: One use card numbers

      I tried a virtual credit card (Entropay), the plan being that I'd top it up with only the amount needed for a particular purchase, and not leave it with more than a few quid balance. However I had a lot of trouble with it getting rejected, so I stopped bothering with it.

    2. CAPS LOCK

      Re: One use card numbers

      Details, details!

    3. Cuddles

      Re: One use card numbers

      "Catchas"

      This is an awesome typo. "In order to prove you are human, please place your cat on the keyboard now". Best of all, it could actually work - the best a bot can manage is pseudorandom output, while a cat is one of the few truly random things known to science.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My Mum knitted my footie top, it's itchy and I sweat like a pig but at least I didn't give my money to terrorists and drug dealers who are out to undermine Mike Ashley's pie money.

    1. 's water music

      My Mum knitted my footie top

      Don't laugh. My mum used to make football kit for me in the 70s. It's hard to know which was worse. The shame at school or the cognitive dissonance of hating someone on whom you depend emotionally.

      Still, you can save so much over the licensed stuff that haven't hesitated to do the same to my kids

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: My Mum knitted my footie top

        Still, you can save so much over the licensed stuff that haven't hesitated to do the same to my kids

        Careful mate, these days that's probably "child abuse". As bad as denying them the latest Adidas, or forcing them to use an Android phone.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So...

    ...the police are so busy that investigating burglaries of ordinary citizens is no longer a priority. Somebody flogging fake Man U shirts, however...

    Priorities?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So...

      You don't pay for government, corporations do and by that I mean campaign funding. They pay for what they want them to do we just then pay for them to do it after making the (in this respect) pointless gesture of voting.

      That's why counterfeiting and copyright are always more important than your house.

      Why do you think no government has ever campaigned on those issues but enacted laws once in power?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So...

        >You don't pay for government, corporations do....

        Indeed

        https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/29/metropolitan-police-virgin-media-lord-chief-justice

        1. Mad Mike

          Re: So...

          Either corporate money going into election funds, or lucrative jobs after leaving politics. Either way, same effect.

    2. GruntyMcPugh Silver badge

      Re: So...

      There is a safety aspect to this, they produce fake clothes in all sizes, so knock offs with loose buttons and dodgy zips could be a choking hazard for minors.

  5. localzuk Silver badge

    Strange measurement

    300 hours to get your ID back? That's an odd thing right there.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Warn Joe Public: they'll nick your ID and ruin your credit

    These days I'll trust fake websites to hold onto that info more than a credit reference agency.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    what about..

    Going after the extortion racket that is original football kit?

    1. Mad Mike

      Re: what about..

      I'm not quite sure why people think they have a right to something at a reasonable price? I agree the amount charged is stupid, so I simply don't buy them. If people stopped buying them at these prices, the profits would dry up and they would either stop selling them or sell them at a lower price which people are willing to pay.

      Any vendor can sell anything at any price. It's a case of supply and demand (without competitive marketplaces anyway). Vendors always raise the price to the highest the market will bear, as that's the most profitable price. A fool and his money are easily parted and persumably those selling football kits know this.....

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: what about..

        A fool and his money are easily parted...

        That's true, but does this become acceptable in all markets, then?

  8. inmypjs Silver badge

    They would say that wouldn't they..

    What about the Credit Card companies issuing merchant accounts to these 'criminals'? They have a significant financial interest in not having their cardholders screwed over directly or later by identity fraud.

    The warnings are false or greatly overstated they are just trying to scare you towards legitimate and expensive suppliers - same old same old.

  9. Mr Dogshit

    I've never really understood why anyone would want to buy, yet alone wear, a cheap polyester shirt emblazoned with the name of a Korean manufacturer of microwave ovens.

    1. Lysenko

      "Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more tedious than that."

      ... downvotes a go-go.

    2. GruntyMcPugh Silver badge

      It is quite odd behaviour. I used to be a Judoka and followed the careers of various others that represented the UK in competitions. I'd look like a right twonk if I showed my support by wearing my Gi down the pub though.

      Meanwhile, I'm grateful cyclists don't wear their lycra socially.

  10. Nolveys

    what about..

    Going after the extortion racket that is original football kit?

    Or the misappropriation of tax money in constructing pro sports stadiums.

    1. Mark 85

      "Or the misappropriation of tax money in constructing pro sports stadiums.?"

      Reference the Romans and 'circuses and games'.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Reference the Romans and 'circuses and games'.

        In all honesty, mate, if I could go and see religious freaks fed to lions, battles of life and death between convicts, and slaves fed to bears, then I'd be quite happy about taxpayers money being wasted on stadiums. Sadly we don't have any of that, and the taxpayers money is just a subsidy to support a few thick, poncy, over-paid, wankers with their limited brains located in their boots.

        In my world, they'd be first on the field, trying to out run hungry leopards.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "other tat"

    Is this why B&Q's website kept crashing to the ground this afternoon ??

    1. Tom 38
      Joke

      Re: "other tat"

      Ooooh! BURN!

  12. tiggity Silver badge

    The average person

    Will struggle to know a site is obviously doddgy.

    Https .. well, certs are easy to get, so not really a sign of "legit"

    As for pop up warnings ...

    Have they ever seen the (almost everywhere) Verified by Visa stuff many "legit" sites use (& I don't touch with a bargepole). Requires third party web site js references for payment (did when I last looked at the monstrosity) i.e. just the sort of thing a dodgy site might use.

    Non use of VbV is only reason I occasionally use Amazon for emergency purchases (prefer not to use them due to tax dodges & treating staff badly) - being out in the sticks sometimes online is only way to get certain stuff unless wait a month for the free time to visit the niche bricks &mortar store miles and miles away (not an option for "emergency" purchases).

    Though Amazon needs using with care, plenty of scammers on there, hijacking real, legit small business selling "3rd party" accounts and flogging amazing deals from those accounts whihj obv have good feedback etc. (typically around same time as Amazon running promotions so people expecting a few too good to be true offers, & Amazon always slow to react to those scams)

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