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New Delhi, May 23 (IANS): Nearly 5 lakh counterfeit printing products, parts and components worth over INR 40 crore were seized during July 2020-September 2021 in India, a new report showed on Monday.
Between November 2020 and October 2021, printing and PC major HP Inc confiscated 646,000 counterfeit print products across EMEA, an additional 400,000 across the Americas, and a further 2.5 million across the APAC region (including 498,000 in India), the company said in a statement.
Charged with protecting customers from buying low-quality or fraudulent HP products, the HP Anti-Counterfeit and Fraud (ACF) team said it has confiscated more than 3.5 million fraudulent print products, parts and components -- including large numbers of ink and toner cartridges -- across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia-Pacific (APAC) and the Americas.
"Counterfeiters are increasingly turning to the online space to sell their fraudulent wares. As a result, it's becoming more difficult for customers to identify counterfeit cartridges at the point of purchase," said Guillaume Gerardin, global head and general manager of print supplies at HP.
The online trading of counterfeit supplies was further exacerbated by Covid-19, with HP increasing its online de-listings by 19 per cent (year-over-year).
Virtual inspections and audits supported the ACF team in identifying and delisting over 224,000 illegitimate HP online offers globally.
The company said it has produced more than 3.9 billion original HP ink and toner cartridges that contain recycled plastic.