As the holiday shopping season ramps up, the NYPD has a warning about counterfeit goods — because some of the fake brands could be harmful. Detectives have raided illegal vendors across the five boroughs, hoping the operation will lead them to the people responsible for pushing the fake products on NYC streets. NBC New York’s Marc Santia reports.
Inside what the NYPD called a mothership — a massive supplier of counterfeit goods — was a hidden haul taken in a raid by police that was part of a crackdown on those pushing fake products on the street.
What appeared to be designer goods in the haul found on Mott Street in Manhattan were actually cheap knockoffs.
"Dior, Fendi, Chanel — you name it, everything was in there," said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry. "They have estimated it to be over $45 to 50 million just out of that one apartment which had three rooms in it.”
Police said all of the counterfeit merchandise seized will be destroyed. The department said the raids came as a result of complaints from consumers and stores, especially as the holidays draw near.
"We want people to come here, spend their money, have a good time, but we want them to buy at our authentic shops," Daughtry said. "This is a huge quality of life condition that people complain about all the time, and they want their quality of life back. They want to be able to walk down a city block without being accosted by these illegal vendors."
Counterfeit goods cost legitimate businesses hundreds of billions of dollars every year, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And the fake items can also pose a potentially harmful risk to buyers.
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"How do we know they have the proper UV protection for those sunglasses?" Daughtry asked. "Fake Beats [headphones], the Apple headphones, some of the other Apple electronic products...how do you know if it passed the fire safety inspection? You leave this thing plugged into your house overnight, next thing you know you got a two-, three -larm fire inside your house from something that was counterfeit.”
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While the NYPD has made arrests against several street vendors, they say their mission is to always "find the mothership.
"I have several locations that we have identified throughout the city especially in lower Manhattan that are housing these illegal bags and we are coming. It could be today, tomorrow but we are coming," Daughtry said.
