After a two month investigation, Chesterfield Township police arrested a supplier of knock-off jewelry, clothing and other items Thursday. A truck full of items was confiscated. In a Ruth to the Rescue special report, Local 4's consumer expert goes to work taking you inside a counterfeit purse operation. Is buying one of these fakes worth the risk or the money?
It may sound tempting – purses that would cost hundreds of dollars for just a fraction of the price.
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Ruth to the Rescue's hidden cameras captured countless counterfeit purses for sale in metro Detroit.
But what are you really getting for your money and do you know how to spot the fakes? Some of the hottest names in handbags – Prada, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Kate Spade – have become victim to illegal fakes.
The handbags are being sold at purse parties in people's homes in southeast Michigan. Ruth to the Rescue sent an undercover producer to a party at a home in Allen Park.
Hidden cameras captured piles of counterfeit purses. A Local 4 producer asks the host of the party if her business is legal.
PRODUCER: "How can you sell copies that look so real? Is it legal?"PARTY HOST: "No"PRODUCER: "Do you ever worry about getting caught?"PARTY HOST: "If I did I'd stop."
Everyone at the party is supposed to know the designer purses are actually fakes, but would-be customers tell a different story.
PARTYGOER: "My niece told me that there are flaws in them and that's how they get to sell them."ANOTHER PARTYGOER: "I can believe that because this has the Coach tag on it and it wouldn't have the tag on it if it wasn't Coach."
Illegal purses are not just available at private parties. Local 4 also discovered knockoffs for sale right out in the open.
A booth at a holiday craft fair at Lahser High School had plenty of purses for sale.
PRODUCER: "This one looks like the real deal."DEALER: "Some of them do."
The dealer insists her bags are not illegal.
PRODUCER: "They look so similar to the real thing."DEALER: "They're not. They're knockoffs. They're close, but they're not identical."
Attorneys for the designers of the real thing argue they're close enough to violate trademark laws.
Barbara Kolsun is a senior vice president for designer Kate Spade.
"Buying a counterfeit is stealing. It's no different than walking into a store and taking a bag off the shelf," Kolsun said.
The Kate Spade company estimates its company alone loses $70 million a year to illegal knockoffs.
According to the United States Commerce Department, counterfeit merchandise costs America's economy an estimated $200 billion a year.
"Counterfeiters don't pay taxes. The bags that are sold at those purse parties are often made in Third World countries in sweat shops by people who are not paid fair wages," Kolsun said.
Retailers agree.
"The people who sell it to you are committing a felony, so there's probably more to that than you think about. You're buying something that's basically contraband," said Cheryl Hall Lindsay of Saks Fifth Avenue stores.
Buying the fake bags isn't illegal, but selling them is a federal crime.
And what are you really getting for your money?
Local 4 style editor Jon Jordan took four fakes to Burberry and Saks Fifth Avenue to compare them with the real thing.
The most obvious clue on the Burberry purse is the plaid, Jordan said.
"It's not even, it's not centered, it's asymmetric," Jordan said.
On the real handbag, the plaid is perfectly centered.
Another tip-off of the fake is the zipper. A real Burberry bag would have a metal zipper, but the knockoff has a plastic zipper, Jordan pointed out.
And on the inside, there's a Made In China tag.
"The China tag is a dead giveaway, certainly," Jordan said.
The phony Prada purse had similar problems.
Experts said messy and mismatched stitching is a major giveaway and it feels cheap to the touch.
The least obvious fake is the Kate Spade bags.
"Kate Spade bags are sort of streamlined and simple in their design, so it's easier to rip off," Jordan said.
The only clear clue on the Spade bag is the vinyl handles instead of real leather.
Ruth to the Rescue wants to make it clear that there are completely legal purse parties and dealers. Those dealers sell bags that are imitations of the real thing, but the purses do not rip off the brand name. The designs are similar, but still they are original designs.
Ruth to the Rescue's investigation only deals with parties selling illegal knockoffs that carry the brand names but are not the real thing.
