A Cybersecurity researcher named Andrea Stroppa discovered a counterfeit iPhone charger bought through an unofficial channel on Instagram after it exploded while trying to charge his phone.
Andrea and his colleagues at Ghost Data Team, a cybersecurity, social-media research firm, looked into the incident and found he was far from alone. It happened that some Chinese illicit factories and wholesale vendors were using the Facebook app to sell fake Apple products which include AirPods, lightning cables, iPhone batteries and USB power adapters. These fake items looked very much like Apple products except to were of less quality and poor standards.
And so, in the bid to save its customers, Apple has announced that a team of experts are working to remove counterfeit products on sites like Instagram, where these Chinese vendors are running a multi-million dollar business selling fake products.
This was confirmed on Wednesday (March 17th, 2020) that its team of experts are now working with law enforcement, merchants, social media companies, and e-commerce sites worldwide to remove counterfeit Apple products from social media sites.
According to an Apple spokesperson, “The team sought to remove more than one million listings last year. The safety of our customers is our first priority, and the risks associated with counterfeit products can be very serious”.
In the report by the Ghost Data Team, it was found that there were payment receipts that proved that these Chinese businesses actually exist. Some of them offer devices, like the iPhone and Apple Watch, that sometimes feature fake Apple logos and packaging. According to the report, “The sellers would typically reach out to potential customers by following tech support profiles and Apple stores online and around 4 in 10 counterfeit product vendors would contact customers through WeChat or WhatsApp”.
The Ghost Data team challenged Instagram that it had not done enough to police its site for counterfeit goods. The team added that despite several statements on internal policing measures, Instagram has clearly failed to identify and block or delete those counterfeit products accounts. Some of them have been in business since 2016.
However, Facebook (owner of Instagram), has confirmed that buying and selling counterfeit goods is against the site’s policy. A spokesperson said, “We have devoted more resources to our global notice-and-takedown program, which has made us quicker in taking action. While there’s always more work to do, we now regularly respond to reports of counterfeit content within one day, and often within a matter of hours.”
The Ghost Data report added that the counterfeit market generated around $1.2 trillion last year.
