False Italian products are booming, more than 7 million products seized in 2023, a growth of 151.6%.
Unrestrained race of counterfeits. In the first five months, more than 100 million goods were seized by the Guardia di Finanza, including goods that are dangerous to health or in breach of copyright
by Marco Mobili
3' min read
Key points
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The 'pezzotto' Made in Italy is also depopulated in 2023. In the fight against counterfeiting for the Guardia di Finanza, 2023 was a record year. As shown by the Court of Auditors in the documents attached to the 'Report on the General State Accounts', the number of counterfeit products seized by the Guardia Gialle rose from 279.7 million in 2022 to 703.8 million in 2023, an increase of +151.6 per cent. These are products with false Made in Italy markings, unsafe for health and in breach of copyright rules. The operational results highlighted by the accounting judges show an increase in the number of interventions, which rose from 12,090 in 2022 to 12,864 in 2023 (+6.4 per cent) and a corresponding number of persons reported to the judicial authorities, which rose from 4,356 in 2022 to 6,221 in 2023 (+42.8 per cent).
The most forged goods
.The Court of Auditors' ranking of counterfeit goods in 2023 shows that clothing and fashion in general are still the most popular. Of the more than 7 million goods seized last year, a good 265.2 million were classified in the macrocategory of fashion. Fashion is followed by consumer goods such as toys with over 258 million goods seized, and these almost all because they were deemed unsafe. Then there is electronics, with a total of 45.3 million goods seized by the Fiamme Gialle. The remainder falls under other items both as macro sectors and consumer goods.
The race for fakes continues
.The increase in counterfeiting has not stopped in 2024. From the data released by the General Command of the Guardia di Finanza on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Corps celebrated in Rome on 24 June, it emerges that in the first five months the interventions carried out by the groups have grown compared to 31 December last year by almost a thousand a month (4613 to be exact), bringing the total of products seized in the last 17 months between 2023 and the first five of 2024 to over 800 million. Over 1,500 people were reported to the public prosecutor's office in just five months.
The New Frontiers of Fake
.Fakes now also run fast on the net. The real 'pezzotto' encourages digital piracy with the dissemination of editorial content, but at the same time the marketing of counterfeit and unsafe products through real online shop windows is also very active. With this new activity, the Guardia di Finanza has obscured and seized 19,565 websites in the last 17 months.
Fake in Agriculture
.Oil and maize are the two most popular agri-food products in fraud. The Guardia di Finanza itself in 2023 and in the first five months of 2024 seized no less than 22,686 tonnes of agri-food products with counterfeit industrial trademarks, untrue indications and, above all, counterfeit products subject to commercial fraud.
