In the past year HP has confiscated more than 3.5 million fraudulent print products, parts, and components – including large numbers of ink and toner cartridges.
Between November 2020 and October 2021, the HP Anti-Counterfeit and Fraud (ACF) team has confiscated 646,000 counterfeit print products across EMEA, an additional 400,000 across the Americas, and a further 2.5 million across the APAC region.
“Counterfeiters are increasingly turning to the online space to sell their fraudulent wares” said Guillaume Gerardin, global head and general manager of print supplies at HP. “As a result, it’s becoming more difficult for customers to identify counterfeit cartridges at the point of purchase. This is why it’s so important that HP continues to work with online marketplaces to help spot and remove listings for counterfeit products, as well as track down the source of these goods.”
HP says it has increased its online de-listings by 19% year-over-year as the company says that “Bad actors” have made a marked shift to online trading of counterfeit supplies. A trend that has been exacerbated by COVID-19 and impacted on HP’s ability to collaborate closely with law enforcement.
HP moved identification measures online and introduced virtual Customer Delivery Inspections (CDIs) and Channel Partner Protection Audits (CPPAs). In total 1,191 CPPAs were conducted, up 11% on the previous year. The virtual inspections and audits enabled the ACF team to identify and delist over 224,000 illegitimate HP online offers globally.
Our take on this: Counterfeiting is a crime, pure and simple, and affects everyone, the OEM, resellers and remanufacturers. The numbers look big, but when you drill down and compare it against the volume they produce and sell? It seems not such a big number: 646,000 for the Europe, Middle east and Africa markets would be less that 1% of their total volume sole in the region?
