Tuesday 14 October 2008

If you go shopping on eBay today be sure of a big surprise

While most people don’t really use eBay the majority of us do & the main reason would have to be value for money. What most people don’t know is that eBay is being used mass pirating & I’m not talking eye patches & wooden legs. One of the most sought after cosmetic brands online is Mac & there are hundreds if not thousands of listings for their products on eBay, its rare that the buyer will actually be getting the official product. This does not just apply to cosmetics but to a wide range of items including music cds/dvds/electrical goods/clothing.. The list goes on. Its not always just reserved for online either, I was at an auction a few months ago & they were auctioning off fake Nintendo games consoles called “viis” of course people/parents etc not so in the know were snapping them up thinking they were getting an amazing bargain, when I was leaving one kid ran past me shouting out that he couldn’t wait to go home & play his wii.. Poor kid. Of course when its done online its different & the profits go into the millions, eBay wont release an official statistic on how many fakes they think are out there and to be honest that’s really understandable. Here are a few examples of fake products lurking around out there.

My personal favourite & maybe the most blatant rip-off of a games console “the Vii” this amazing piece of machinery doesn’t even use a CD instead it relies on a very crappy on board memory unit, as you can see the consoles in workings could easily fit in a shell half that size.

Fake Mac & lots of it! Each of those little boxes would easily go for at least five euro’s so a warehouse full of boxes must be turning over a nice profit. I know what your saying what’s the difference its only make-up. Mac is used by professional make-up artists around the world & the results are always stunning, products such as their compact powders & eye shadows are the ones that keep showing up on eBay so its no surprise that they are the most faked.

Who’s to blame for all this dodgyness? Well I don’t like to point the finger but by going by the shipping addresses the company of origin always seem to be China. The reason for this as an almost lax policy of copyrighting laws & an endless supply of people to produce the products. Its true many countries have problems with counterfeits but Chinas is not just a nuisance it’s a dangerous reality. A recent FBI probe found that almost 3 million dollars worth of high-tech equipment & computers sold from China to the US and other countries was riddled with easy access gateways that hackers based in China could use to penetrate networks & financial institutions on a worldwide scale. Granted very few people will be buying computers from Chinese companies but with online shopping people might see a software program that could only be a bargain, its these software packages that control the groundwork for the possibility of a hack to your system. From clothing to cosmetics sometimes it really is safer to just buy from the original source but then not that many people are going to shell out on a five grand bag when they can get one by the high streets for as little as twenty euros, just think twice before you pick up software or operating system packages from anyone other than a licensed supplier.

What I’m watching.. (TV in a nutshell)


Crime Invasion: Britain's New Underworld
10 part documentary series presented by journalist Rageh Omaar. This documentary sets out to investigate the newer styles & methods of organized crime dominating the UK/Europe from low-tech car thieves to high-tech ATM gangs that steal millions every year from our very own pockets. Dealing with gangs such as the Romanian & Turkish mafia’s the series features interviews with not only victims of crime but with the criminals themselves and the special units of the police that are forming to tackle the ever growing problems faced by these newer gangs that are constantly setting up shop in cites all over Europe.

Vinnie Jones: Toughest Cops (Kosovo)
Vinnie Jones introduces this series which follows police at work in some of the world's most dangerous locations. Although it is one of the smallest regions in the Balkans, Kosovo has been turned into a virtual war-zone by criminal gangs who have flooded the country with drugs and guns, while one of the world's newest police forces is battling to control the chaos. Cameras follow the Department for Organised Crime as they bust a major heroin deal, and the Regional Support Operations Unit as they police a political demonstration in a region where ethnic tension runs high.
Vinnie Jones: Toughest Cops (Papua new guinea)
Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby is overrun by deadly gangs who terrorise the city with violent crime. Cameras follow cops as they bring in the country's most wanted man and his gang, and travel into the lawless bush lands - highlighting how policing a country of 800 different tribes is one of the toughest jobs in the world.


Cashmere Mafia
A group of successful female executives who have been friends since college turn to each other for guidance as they juggle their careers with family in New York City.



Ghost Whisperer
A newlywed with the ability to communicate with the earthbound spirits of the recently deceased overcomes scepticism and doubt to help send their important messages to the living and allow the dead to pass on to the other side.

Desperate Housewives (series 5)
The return to wisteria lane (I’m not spoiling anything!)