Some criminals did not get their Christmas present this year. Last week Customs and Border Protection say they found nearly $300,000 in counterfeit $100 dollar bills in the bag of a woman flying into JFK from Medellin, Colombia. Sadly, the stash wasn't found by the TSA—because we'd love to have seen the note they might have left with all that fake moolah. more ›

Thank goodness! The NYPD, working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have today announced they've made us all a little bit safer by removing $3.5 million dollars worth of counterfeit handbags from circulation. Michael Kors and Tory Burch must be so relieved! more ›

This morning DNAinfo reported that Council member Margaret Chin was "backing down" on her bill to punish people who buy knockoff goods with up to a year in jail or a $1,000 fine. "We're definitely getting some pushback," her chief of staff Jake Itzkowitz reportedly said. "I think [the bill] may not stay in its current form. The year of jail time may change." But Chin asks us, "Why would I back down from a bill I just introduced yesterday." Her communications director just fired off this statement, "Council member Chin is in no way backing down from this bill..." more ›

If you've been home sick watching the daytime marathon of Spongebob Squarepants any time recently (we're not ashamed), you have seen the ad for Pillow Pets, which always reminded us of that old Shimmer Floor Wax SNL bit. The toy's name is pretty self-explanatory, but if you need clarification check out the video below. Anyway, CJ Products want to make sure they have the only Pillow Pets on the market, so U.S. Marshals have seized thousands of counterfeit pillows from a Flushing Avenue warehouse used by Concord Toys International. Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Vitaliano said, "This is particularly troubling given the potential that [Concord's] products may pose a potential public health risk." more ›

Despite making 682 busts on Canal Street this year, the NYPD has still not been able to curb the popularity of counterfeit goods vendors in downtown Manhattan. Business is booming at stalls in Chinatown, where vendors sell fake designer purses and sunglasses at a fraction of the real cost. One vendor told the Post, "The businesses hate us, and the government doesn't get their taxes." But they also say their goods are just as good as the originals. One vendor said of an $80 "Dolce & Gabbana" purse, "The other bags are made in Italy. These are made in Korea. That is the only difference—everything else is the same." Well, not exactly. more ›

Bootleggers, in this city?! Never. According to the Daily News, Queens company NYSP Outlet won a city contract to sell t-shirts in Central Park, but now they're being accused of selling bootlegged merch. To back up: the contract means the company has exclusive rights to sell in the park, and to do so they've agreed to pay $550K to the city over the next five years. more ›

Fulton Mall shelves may be bare this summer since in Baltimore feds have seized 120,000 pairs of fake Nikes, along with counterfeit Coach and Gucci-brand stuff, Cartier watches and Viagra pills bound for Brooklyn. For smuggling and money laundering they've charged three U.S. citizens along with four partners from China and two from Malaysia, where the goods were manufactured. The AP says that, to avoid paying import duties, the smuggling ring had merchandise delivered to New York and New Jersey, transacting in cash and wiring money to Asia. Officials also seized fake Ugg, Adidas, Versace and Ralph Lauren items. Undercover officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who've been working on the case since 2008, infiltrated the operation and made their arrests last week. more ›

All of those counterfeit clothes the city confiscates used to go to the needy... but the NY Times reports that this past year city officials destroyed the new, unused clothing and footwear. more ›

Yesterday morning the crackdown on counterfeit rings on Canal Street continued, just as vendors are surely hitting a busy time of year with fake designer handbags being purchased as holiday gifts. 1010Wins reports that "police raided a block of Canal Street off Broadway including 10 buildings and 30 stalls. During the raid, police said they also found secret rooms inside the buildings where dealers allegedly conducted business." Everything from knock-off Chanel bags to Tiffany-esque jewelry was confiscated. more ›

Have the NYPD raised a SkyWatch over Canal Street to curb the alleged "spike in crime" in the area, or are they cracking down on illegal vendors and counterfeiters again? more ›

Time to start setting aside some of those counterfeit bills we ordinarily unload at the peep shows and save them for the subway! The MTA is reportedly "in a mad dash" to update more than 1,600 MetroCard machines throughout the city because they soon won't be high-tech enough to spot the newest generations of rubber money. A new MTA report warns that without an upgrade, the machines "have the potential of accepting up to $60 million in counterfeit bills annually." And then once the machines become self-aware, who knows what they'll accept as payment? The MTA board will vote soon on a plan to fix obsolete machines electronically, which is expected to cost $3.3 million dollars. The Post reports that physically replacing the slots would cost more than three times as much. And a spokesman for NYC Transit tells us the upgrade isn't just about anti-counterfeiting measures, but also intended to accomodate new bill designs issued by the federal government. more ›

Two 26-year-old men from the Bronx are accused of orchestrating a wide-ranging counterfeit check scheme. According to the NY Times, "Jasper Grayson and James Malloy...hired bank tellers to photocopy paychecks they were handling, and pass the copies to the two men, who created likenesses using nothing more than laptop computers, paper and printers... Next, the men hired people to deposit the counterfeit checks into their bank accounts and then take out the money, in withdrawals that averaged $2,000 apiece." The Daily News reports the laptops "contained check-making software, stolen bank account info and logos used on counterfeit checks, officials said." And the employers included city agencies (like the NYPD), Bed Bath & Beyond, Diane von Furstenberg, Madison Square Garden, and Montefiore Medical Center. Besides Grayson and Malloy, 16 other people were also charged in the 227-count indictment, but many others could be named later—the pair allegedly hired 950 people to cash the checks. And the Post adds, "Investigators think the men used most of the proceeds to finance a high-flying lifestyle of club-going, Cristal champagne and expensive meals." more ›

A discerning dancer at a Times Square peep show nailed an ex-con earlier this month for trying to pay her with phony $10 bills. The unidentified stripper was plying her trade at Gotham City on Eighth Ave, where women perform private dances from behind a glass partition. It was around 2:20 a.m. on May 5th when she noticed that the two ten dollar bills handed to her by customer Michael Harris seemed to be fakes made with an Ink Jet printer. After calling the manager, he confronted Harris, who has done time on a drug conviction. According to court documents obtained by the Post, Harris proceeded to freak out and spilled 21 more bills into the aisle, later telling cops, "I panicked so I dumped them." He was subdued until the arrival of the NYPD and the US Secret Service, which has exclusive jurisdiction in counterfeiting investigations. Apparently, counterfeit money is often passed at peep shows and strip clubs; one employee tells the Post, "It happens all the time." And Gotham City isn't safe from this joker yet—he's currently walking the streets on $2,500 bail. more ›

It seems some enterprising young chap decided to make some extra cash by scamming people on Craigslist, allegedly selling (many, many) counterfeit tickets at inflated prices to the Animal Collective show at Bowery Ballroom last night. Brooklyn Vegan commenters are all abuzz about it today, with one explaining, "There was some bad shit going down with counterfeit tickets. As I was going in some people got stopped when the guy scanned their tickets. He asked them if they'd bought them from a guy (he said his name) on Craigslist for $100 and they said yes. He said they were the tenth people that night who'd got caught in the same scam. So someone out there made a LOT of money from last night's show." It seems that the alleged grifter was selling the E-ticket receipt, which can only be scanned one time. And since his name was on it, he's now the object of a serious hipster witch hunt; BV's commenters claim to have figured out his address and work information! We called the fella, and even emailed for comment, but unsurprisingly haven't heard back yet. [via Free Williamsburg] more ›

Like other classy gentlemen, 39-year-old Luis Lora-Martinez liked to impress the erotic dancers at AJ's Lounge in Secaucus by tipping them with 20 dollar bills. But Lora-Martinez's tips were actually forgeries, according to Secret Service agents who arrested him after employees at the strip club called the police. It seems Lora-Martinez never watched a little movie called To Live and Die in L.A.—which shows how labor-intensive the counterfeiting process actually is—because his fake bills were produced on a computer printer on regular paper. But according to The Jersey Journal, his funny money was good enough to fool the dancers for a little while, at least. When they wised up, they directed investigators to his motel room, where they found $5,000 in fake $20s and $50s stashed away. He now faces up to ten years in prison, and will only be released on bail if he can prove he has $60,000 in non-computer printer bills. more ›

Last year movie piracy became a misdemeanor in New York, making it that much harder to watch a shaky-cam version of a summer blockbuster before it even closes out its opening weekend in theaters. Bloomberg has been cracking down on counterfeiters city-wide, and while he's brought equal attention to the fake purse racket, The NY Times focuses in on the blurry bootlegs. more ›

Controversy is swirling around a course offered at Hunter College that an untenured professor says he was pressured to “teach.” The course was paid for last year by the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition [IACC], an industry group combating the proliferation of cheap counterfeit clothes, jewelry, accessories, etc. more ›

Nothing says press conference like raiding a 32 stores in what the city dubs "Counterfeit Triangle" and hauling away over a $1 million worth of brand-name products. The raid, taking down stores in the area bounded by Canal Street, Walker Street and Centre Street, occurred in the early morning, with cops using bolt-cutters to gain entry and tractor-trailers to take the haul away Coach, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbanna, Dior, Prada, Rolex, Fendi, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Dora the Explorer and Oakley merchandise. more ›

Earlier this year the law started cracking down on illegal bootleggers of all kinds, so those looking for more inexpensive gifts like Prada bags or not-yet-released DVDs on the city sidewalks may be barking up the wrong Christmas tree. The NY Post reports that cops are paying extra-special attention to the counterfeiters this year, leading to a big decline in sales for the sidewalk entrepreneurs and aiming the consumers to (gasp!) legit storefronts.That's great news... more ›