A designer handbag, a phone charger or a pair of trainers at a fraction of the retail price can be a genuine bargain, or it can be a counterfeit that puts money directly into organised crime and, in some categories, puts the buyer at physical risk. Action Fraud’s official guidance describes counterfeit goods fraud simply: products such as “designer clothes, accessories, electricals or cosmetics” sold as authentic when they are fake, using a well-known brand’s identity so the seller can profit even though the buyer thinks they have found a deal.
Why online marketplaces make counterfeits harder to spot
Action Fraud notes that counterfeits are increasingly found “at online auctions and web marketplaces, where you have no way of checking whether the products are genuine until you’ve paid and had them delivered.” That is the core problem with buying online rather than in person: the usual physical checks, feeling the material, checking stitching, comparing packaging in hand, are not available until after money has changed hands, by which point tracing the seller can already be difficult.
What to check before buying
Action Fraud’s practical advice starts with the product listing itself: check the quality and labels shown in photos, since fakes often have “spelling mistakes or other distinguishing marks” that a genuine product and its official packaging would not carry. A price that looks too good against the brand’s normal retail price is the clearest single signal, Action Fraud’s guidance is direct that “if something seems too good to be true, it probably is,” rather than being an actual bargain. It is also worth checking whether the seller offers any after-sales service, warranty or guarantee, since Action Fraud notes that “most rogue traders don’t,” in contrast to authorised retailers who typically do.
Signs a purchase has already gone wrong
Buyers often only discover a problem after delivery. Action Fraud lists the signs to look for: the item is not made by the brand it claims to be from, it is of poor quality that can make it unusable or, in some cases, unsafe, and it may have been sold through a venue, such as a car boot sale, market or unofficial online listing, that makes the seller difficult to trace once payment has been made.
Your consumer rights still apply, with limits
Citizens Advice confirms that UK consumer law gives buyers a statutory right to a refund on goods that turn out to be fake, regardless of how the seller described them. In practice this is tiered by time: a full refund is available if a claim is made within 30 days of purchase; between 30 days and six months, the seller can offer a genuine replacement instead of a refund; and between six months and six years, a partial refund may be possible, though the burden of proving the fault existed at the time of purchase shifts to the buyer. Where a seller refuses to cooperate, Citizens Advice points buyers toward their payment provider instead: a chargeback claim through a debit or credit card for purchases under £100, or a Section 75 claim under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for credit card purchases between £100 and £30,000, which makes the card provider jointly liable with the seller.
Citizens Advice is direct about one limitation, though: “Trading Standards might take legal action against the seller, but they can’t help you to get your money back.” Reporting a counterfeit seller protects other buyers and can lead to enforcement action, but it is not itself a route to a personal refund.
The wider harm buying counterfeits causes
Action Fraud’s guidance frames counterfeit purchases as more than an individual consumer risk. Money spent on counterfeit goods, it states, “ends up funding organised crime such as drug dealing,” and contributes to job losses at genuine manufacturers unable to match rogue traders’ prices. Beyond the financial and criminal dimension, Action Fraud specifically warns that “some counterfeits can be dangerous to use and in some cases are made using toxic substances,” a risk that applies particularly to counterfeit electricals, cosmetics and children’s toys, where a fake product may not meet the safety standards a genuine one is tested against.
How and where to report a counterfeit seller
Action Fraud recommends getting advice from the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133 if you believe you have been sold, or suspect someone is selling, counterfeit goods, and reporting it directly to Action Fraud online or by phone on 0300 123 2040. Action Fraud also points toward the City of London Police’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit for further detail on how counterfeit goods investigations work at a national level.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get my money back through the platform I bought from? Many marketplaces have their own buyer-protection schemes separate from statutory consumer rights, and it is worth using both; a platform report does not replace reporting the seller to Trading Standards or Action Fraud.
Is buying counterfeit goods illegal for the buyer? UK law targets the sale of counterfeit goods rather than the act of unknowingly buying them, but knowingly buying counterfeits still funds the activity Action Fraud describes as linked to organised crime.
Are counterfeit electronics actually dangerous, or just poor quality? Action Fraud specifically flags counterfeit goods, including electricals, as capable of being unsafe, not simply lower quality, since they are not made or tested to the same standards as the genuine product.
The bottom line
A counterfeit sold online cannot usually be checked by hand before payment, which is what makes marketplaces and social selling the highest-risk channel for this kind of fraud. Action Fraud’s core checks, comparing the price against genuine retail value, examining listing photos for label and spelling errors, and checking for an after-sales guarantee, catch most fakes before purchase, while Citizens Advice’s tiered refund rights and chargeback or Section 75 routes remain the main recourse if a fake has already been bought.