Luxury costs a lot, but fake luxury costs only a little. Although fake, it can create an image of wealth, provided the fake goods aren’t too closely inspected by an expert.  It’s quantity over quality in the kingdom of the knockoffs, and there are plenty of ready, willing and able buyers.

By Egon E Mosum

The two characters that make up the word for China, Chung Kuo, mean “central kingdom.”

China, along with its other accomplishments, has certainly earned that title when it comes to the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit goods — and there are a lot more than two characters involved with this shady business.

Luxury costs a lot, but fake luxury costs only a little. Although fake, it can create an image of wealth, provided the fake goods aren’t too closely inspected by an expert.  It’s quantity over quality in the kingdom of the knockoffs, and there are plenty of ready, willing and able buyers.

Given the social media bombardment people face daily — especially the younger population — where everybody seems to be rich, handsome and laden with luxury label goods, it’s not hard to understand the motivation to manufacture top labeled fakery.

The purpose is profits, of course with respect to the sellers, and puffery with respect to the buyers.

There’s even a new twist on the old counterfeit scam. Luxury brands like Hermes, Chanel and Louis Vuitton, are seeing social media postings from supposed oppressed workers in China who make these goods. Woe is them, and even more woe to the gullible who believe this nonsense.

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The ‘workers’ claiming they are oppressed, are however perfectly willing and able to offer the real deal luxury goods at a surprising discount, if you just click on to their website.

Offering for example, a fifty-thousand-dollar handbag (whether real or not is a ridiculous amount) for only fourteen hundred dollars.

Sounds too good to be true?

Doesn’t it? That’s because it is.

In a recent Straits Times article, the Singaporean newspaper revealed ‘a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs.’[1]

A spokesman for French Luxury goods stated in the article, ‘the notion that luxury brands would manufacture goods in China is simply absurd.’[2]

Now, that is quite believable. 

Could it be imagined the damage that would be done to the reputation of those labels if it became known that they were produced by Chinese labor?

China has yet to gain a reputation for outstanding manufacturing quality — anybody who has tried to assemble Chinese made furniture could swear to that on a stack of Confucius’ Analects.

But it is a brilliant marketing plan for palming off counterfeit items on those looking to dress to impress on social media.

Back in 2018, the Department of Justice website issued a press release about the indictment of twenty-two individuals who ‘trafficked items that included fake Louis Vuitton and Tory Burch Handbags, Michael Kors Wallets, Hermes Belts and Chanel Perfume.’

In the press release, a Homeland Security Investigator stated, ‘Counterfeit goods manufactured and smuggled from China with a suggested value close to half a billion dollars, were intended to make its way into U.S. markets and into the hands of unsuspecting consumers.’[3]

According to a 2023 NY Post article, if you want counterfeit goods, Guangzhou is the place to be ‘for making knock-offs of everything from handbags to cigarettes to auto parts, minimum wage runs in the range of $2.50 an hour.’[4]

The frightening part of that statement is the bit about auto parts. It is doubtful that anyone would risk their lives and their vehicles to save a few bucks—but one never knows.

It appears that China’s counterfeiters are equal opportunity exploiters of fake goods. In a 2015 article, it was stated ‘Rolex watches, Gucci handbags, Duracell batteries, Gillette razor blades, Safeguard soap, Head & Shoulders shampoo, Viagra, and luxury automobiles are just a few of the many fake goods available for purchase.’

In that same article, appearing in the April 2015 issue of The Gavel, a frightening fact was offered up that ‘the World Health Organization estimates that 10% of the world’s medicine supply, and, more alarmingly, 30% of the developing world’s supply, is counterfeit, i.e. drugs “deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity and/or source.”’[5]

(One is reminded of the movie, The Third Man, where in Post War Vienna, the villain, Harry Lime was selling diluted antibiotics to patients, who either died or were permanently disabled by the bogus drugs.)

But this is reality, it isn’t a movie.

Supposedly, China is concerned with the problem and is legislating against counterfeiting.

In an April 2025 National Law Review article we are told, ‘China has taken multiple measures to protect trade secrets, protect pharmaceutical intellectual property rights, combat online infringements, and tighten intellectual property law enforcement, and has conscientiously implemented the relevant commitments in the intellectual property.’[6]

China wouldn’t lie, but they might try and counterfeit the truth.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

There used to be a saying, ‘you get what you pay for.’ 

Like many old sayings, it is partially true and partially false. When you pay one-twentieth the price of what is passed off as a luxury item, you often get something that is one-twentieth the quality of the real thing. 

What’s worse is the situation when you pay the full luxury price, but get a designer item by ‘Fugazy’ instead of Fendi.

Not only is that a fraud upon the consumer, but it can serve to dilute the reputation and perceived value of the real item — or if one is cynical — demonstrate that the real deal is not a big deal and the counterfeit will serve just as well.

Much more importantly, is the counterfeiting of items that are related to health and safety; auto parts which can fall apart, pharmaceuticals that are phantoms of the real prescription.

That just isn’t economic injury, it can result in death.

The West can investigate and arrest as much as it wants to, but counterfeiting is a crime that has been around a long time, and will continue to survive.

China, can establish whatever token legislation it wants against counterfeiting of goods, but there is just too much money to be made in that industry, and where there is a clear perception of money, justice can often turn a blind eye — especially in countries where corruption is a day-to-day reality.

So now, more than ever, it is up to the individual consumer to investigate and inspect the products it buys, and to remember the Latin saying, “Caveat Emptor.’

Sources:

[1] TikTok videos exploit trade war to sell fake luxury goods 4/26/25 STRAITS TIMES https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/tiktok-videos-exploit-trade-war-to-sell-fake-luxury-goods

[2] IBID.

[3] 22 Charged With Smuggling Millions of Dollars of Counterfeit Luxury Goods From China Into the United States 8/16/18 Department of Justice https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/22-charged-smuggling-millions-dollars-counterfeit-luxury-goods-china-united-states

[4] How smugglers flood the US with Chinese fake designer bags — hidden under umbrellas Kaplan, 7/31/23 NY POST https://nypost.com/2023/07/31/revealed-how-smugglers-flood-the-us-with-chinese-fakes/

[5] Daniel C. Fleming, THE GAVEL April 2015 https://www.wongfleming.com/wp-content/uploads/COUNTERFEITING-IN-CHINA.html

[6]China’s Position on Certain Issues in China-US Economic and Trade Relations Aaron Winger, 4/9/25 NATONAL LAW REVIEW https://natlawreview.com/article/chinas-state-council-releases-white-paper-chinas-position-certain-issues-china-us