Fake Or Real? Our Top Tips For Spotting Luxury Counterfeits

Many people go on their travels and want to bring home mementos from their trip, or have a desire to stock up on expensive duty free and luxury essentials from fragrances and alcohol to cigarettes. Unfortunately there are plenty of counterfeit products flooding the world, and certain countries in particular, so if you choose to shop in markets, or away from officially recognised stores, you might be at risk of buying items which aren’t the real thing. So how can you tell if a well-priced bottle of high end tequila or luxury perfume is a fake? Top of our list of things to check for includes shopping for goods such as these, along with cigarettes, toys and medicines, at reputable, licensed or official stores, pharmacies, or tourist shops which have endorsed by a legitimate tourism authority only. Beyond that there are other things to watch out for. Take fragrances, for example; check carefully for poor quality wrapping or none at all, spelling mistakes on labels, and missing batch codes, as they are clear signs of a fake product. Also let your nose be your guide; if the product doesn’t smell right it’s probably fake, and it might even be harmful to your skin if you use it. When it comes to alcohol beware of peeling, crooked, or wrong-coloured labels, and labels with spelling mistakes and missing print. Also check carefully that caps and seals are properly intact; sometimes the bottles used are real, but the contents inside are not. Toys can also be deadly and a danger to children if they are fake, so if you are buying souvenirs for your kids, things to look out for include poor quality workmanship, missing or poorly presented packaging, and missing safety standard labels. And finally, when it comes to cigarettes, even if the packaging looks real, fakes will taste noticeably different. And where medicines are concerned, check carefully for an expiration date and batch code, beware of anything with poor packaging, unclear printing on labels and boxes, or broken seals. The golden rule is if in doubt, don’t buy it.