Watch out for fakes
X-Ray's Lucy is shown around Conwy Trading Standards' secret location containing聽recently seized counterfeit goods
Websites advertising fake products are now so convincing you think you鈥檙e buying the real thing.
Patricia Wood from Colwyn Bay fell victim to one such scam when she tried to buy a pair of trendy UGG boots on a website called UGG Eden earlier this year.
She told X-Ray she was sure they were real, 鈥淚 had a look on the internet. I thought they were probably cheaper because they were last seasons.鈥
She bagged the UGGs - worn by the likes of Kate Moss and Jennifer Aniston - for just 拢82. A real pair can cost between 拢100 and 拢400.
When Patricia鈥檚 boots finally turned up she also had suspicions they weren鈥檛 genuine, 鈥淢y immediate first thought when I got them out of the box was, they're not sheepskin and they were a lot shorter than I had expected them to be.鈥澛
We sent Patricia鈥檚 boots to a science lab for testing and it turned out they were actually made of cow skin with polyester fake fur inside.
Patricia said she felt cheated, 鈥淚 could have got a copy in any shoe store for a lot less money - 拢20 to 拢30. I just think it's a big rip off.
鈥淔or a pair of real sheep skin boots, it was a very good price. But for a pair of cheap, pretend sheepskin boots it's a very, very expensive price.鈥
But UGGs aren鈥檛 the only popular present this Christmas being copied.
X-Ray was invited to a secret location in Conwy where the local Trading Standards takes all its seized counterfeits for investigation.
Enforcement Officer John Donnolley showed us around pointing out what they鈥檝e recently got hold of.
He told us, 鈥淥ne of the major problems we have at the moment is that the counterfeit products are actually being sold for close to the real price 鈥 they鈥檙e targeting prices so people believe they're the genuine product,鈥 he said.
鈥淲e bought a particular fake Ben Ten car where the wheels were damaged and the paint was poisonous so we seized the lot from the store holder.鈥
And John adds that it鈥檚 a massive problem for the economy, 鈥淚 think we're talking trillions of pounds across the world, at least 23 billion in the UK, and locally even within Conwy or North Wales 2-3 million a year lost to local traders.
鈥淚t puts people out of work. We're getting more and more complaints with regard to counterfeit goods. Medicines, alcohol, tobacco, you name it, printer cartridges, it can be counterfeited.鈥
But how can we avoid buying them?
John says it鈥檚 all about the price, 鈥淚f you're paying 拢50 for something that's 拢300 you need a bit of common sense sometimes and think it's not possibly going to be the right thing, so shop around again.鈥
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