Counterfeit products worth over ₹40 crore seized during July 2020 - Sept. 2021 in India: HP

Bad actors have already made a marked shift to online trading of counterfeit supplies

HP India has seized ₹40 crore worth 4,98,000 counterfeit products between July 2020 and September 2021 under its Anti-Counterfeiting and Fraud (ACF) Programme in the country.

Bad actors have already made a marked shift to online trading of counterfeit supplies. This trend has been further exacerbated by COVID-19, with HP increasing its online de-listings by 19% year-over-year, said the company on Monday.

HP works with online marketplaces and other online third-party organisations to put more stringent procedures in place on sites to identify infringing products or sellers, as per a company statement.

``It’s becoming more difficult for customers to identify counterfeit cartridges at the point of purchase. This is why it’s so important that HP continues to work with online marketplaces to help spot and remove listings for counterfeit products, as well as track down the source of these goods,’‘ said Guillaume Gerardin, global head and general manager of print supplies at HP.

In the past year, HP’s ACF team has confiscated over 3.5 million fraudulent print products, parts and components, including large numbers of ink and toner cartridges, across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. In APAC alone, it seized 2.5 million units of counterfeit products, the company said.