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Police swoop on sellers of Jaswant Singh’s pirated book in Pak

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Lahore, Sep.18 (ANI): Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh’s book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah has sent the Pakistani book piracy nexus working overtime, but it has also landed people in police custody.

Pakistani security agencies have arrested three people for selling pirated editions of the book ‘Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence,’ following a countrywide crackdown on publishers and sellers of counterfeit editions of the controversial yet popular book.

Several fake copies of the book have also been recovered and cases have been registered in Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi and Lahore, The Daily Times reported.

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials said the action was taken on a complaint filed by Tariq Haq, regional sales head of the Oxford University Press (OUP).

Tariq said the OUP had the sole rights of publication and distribution of the book and the company is facing heavy losses due to large scale piracy of the book.

Singh’s book which has created a furor in India, has received an overwhelming response in Pakistan.

Not only intellectuals, but people from different strata of the society have also shown interest in the book, in which Singh has praised Muhammad Ali Jinnah and described him as a leader who had strong faith in united India, while blaming Sardar Patel for the partition in 1947. (ANI)

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Fake currency flowing in from Dubai, Bangladesh: Mumbai police

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Mumbai, Aug 29(ANI): Mumbai police on Saturday said that counterfeit currency was flowing into Mumbai from Dubai and Bangladesh.

Speaking on the sidelines of laying the foundation stone of a Police Academy here, Mumbai’s police commissioner D. Shivanandan said: “Much of the money (fake currency) is coming from Dubai or from Calcutta (Kolkata) from Bangladesh side. We are coordinating with the Calcutta (Kolkata) police on this.”

Several cases of fake currency notes being pumped into the country have been reported across the country.

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), earlier in the day, arrested a key operative of a fake currency racket and seized counterfeit notes with a face value of 2,807 dollars. (ANI)

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Online prescription drug purchase may endanger your health, warns expert

July 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 12 (ANI): An expert at The University of Texas at Austin warns that prescription drugs’ purchase via the Internet, though more convenient, may endanger the buyer’s health.

“There’s a big problem with rogue Web sites,” says Dr. Marv Shepherd, the Klinck Centennial Professor in the College of Pharmacy and director of the Center for Pharmoeconomic Studies at the university.

“It’s very difficult to determine whether a Web site represents an authentic pharmacy or a counterfeit drug pharmacy. You can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys,” adds Shepherd, whose research and expertise on drug importation and drug counterfeiting has been featured on CNN, NPR and in Newsweek, Time, U.S. News and World Report, the New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today, among others.

Shepherd reports that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) surveyed Canadian pharmacy Web sites, and found 11,000 Web sites claiming to be Canadian sites selling pharmaceuticals.

However, according to the researcher, closer analysis revealed that only 214 pharmacies in Canada sell pharmaceuticals over the Web.

As regards the other 10,000-plus sites, he said that they included website in Pakistan, Southeast Asia, Mexico and even Washington State.

He warned that consumer ordering pharmaceuticals from them might receive counterfeit drugs with incorrect dosage, false labeling, no pharmaceutical benefit or worse.

“For many counterfeit products, it is difficult to distinguish the genuine product from the counterfeit product without a forensic test. They may have the brand name on them, but they aren’t the brand name product,” Shepherd says.

He says that people can avoid the risk by confirming if a pharmacy is licensed in the state, by checking the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) for links to their state board.

He says that people can also look for the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites seal on the site. By clicking on the seal, he adds, a visitor is linked to a site where information about the pharmacy is maintained by the NABP. (ANI)

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Illegal Indian fraudsters behind UK’s largest visa scam

May 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 7 (ANI): Three Indian illegal immigrants are reported to be behind the biggest visa scam in British history.

According to The Telegraph, they were so confident of fooling the Home Office that one of them offered their services on a no win, no fee basis, a court has heard.

The three offered foreigners access to Britain for cash by submitting hundreds of bogus immigration visa applications in 18 months, all of which were rubber-stamped by the Home Office.

The gang ran a fraud factory creating thousands of counterfeit documents and enabling hundreds to cheat border control.

Between October 2006 and May last year, the company UniVisa – posing as a business legitimately helping would-be immigrants with their paperwork – submitted 980 applications to the Home Office, making what is thought to be hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Isleworth Crown Court in west London heard that ringleader Jatinder Sharma, 44, had pleaded guilty to a raft of immigration offences. Sharma’s company provided its customers with fake degree papers, references and CVs to help them enter Britain illegally.

His alleged co-conspirators, Neelam Sharma, 39, and Rakhi Shahi, 32 – both of whom are married to Sharma – are facing a similar range of charges at trial. They are also both accused of entering and remaining in Britain illegally.

The trial continues. (ANI)

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Cybercrooks take advantage of swine flu hysteria

May 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Sydney, April 30 (ANI): Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the swine flu buzz to sell counterfeit drugs and steal credit card details, Internet security experts have warned.

“The scare has spawned a spamming frenzy, like sharks smelling blood in the water,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Symantec’s Mayur Kulkarni as stating in a blog post.

F-Secure, an Internet security company, has made a list of 146 swine flu-related internet sites that have been registered over the last few days by scammers looking to collect ‘donations’ and peddle malware, fake pills and bogus swine flu survival guides.

McAfee, one of the leading security software makers, said that domain registrations of websites that included “swine” in their names were up by thirtyfold.

One of the new sites, noswineflu.com, tries to con readers into buying a PDF called “Swine Flu Survival Guide” for 19.95 dollars.

McAfee and Symantec also revealed a surge in spam campaigns exploiting the flu threat, which instead of delivering useful information distribute viruses and offer bogus pills that purportedly eradicate the flu.

When victims go to purchase any products offered by the spammers, the details of their credit cards are stolen.

Sophos, another internet security company, has warned that victims may also be sent bogus drugs purporting to be generic versions of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, which could pose health risks.

Cybercriminals are also using celebrity angle, with email titles such as “Madonna caught swine flu!” and “Swine flu in Hollywood!”.

The spam emails usually contain a link to a malicious website or what appears to be a PDF file, but is in fact a program that tries to steal user names and passwords.

Cisco IronPort estimated that swine flu-related messages already account for up to 4 per cent of the world’s spam.

The US Government-run Computer Emergency Readiness Team, US-CERT, has cautioned not to open any malicious links or attachments.

“If users click on this link or open the attachment, they may be directed to a phishing website or exposed to malicious code,” US-CERT said.

It added that all official information can be found on the website of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. (ANI)

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Cops find going tough on the fake money trial

April 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

CHENNAI: The problem of counterfeit currency is growing at an alarming rate. There are 132 land customs check-points , 93 at ports and 36 at
international airports but the racketeers still manage to pump in lakhs of such currency. “The periodic seizures by the various law-enforcing agencies are only the tip of the iceberg. Those caught may not know, most of the time, the brain behind the racket ,” a senior police officer said.

In 2008, the Coimbatore police and banks detected as many as 170 cases of circulation of fake currency against none in 2007. Chennai reported 134 cases of counterfeit currency in 2008 and 7 in 2007.

According to sources, then Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta had sent a confidential report to all state chief secretaries to assign a nodal officer to curb the circulation of fake Indian currency notes (FICNs). Several government agencies were brought on one platform to share information.

“In 2008, banks across TN detected 612 cases of counterfeit currency while the state police unearthed 38. In 2007, banks detected 76 cases and the state police 37,” said CBCID additional director-general of police Archana Ramasundaram.

Sources said that about 5-10 % or Rs ,500 crore of the Rs 2,50,000 crore presently in circulation in the country is estimated to be counterfeit. The total seizure of fake currency in the country is about Rs 15 crore a year. The average life of a currency note is 9 to 10 months. Whenever there is a seizure of fake currency, the RBI announces that notes of a particular series are fake. Information can also be had at www.rbi.org.in.

Most Indian currency notes have 14 salient features. Some of them are watermarks , security thread, intaglio printing , optically variable ink (OVI), seethrough register of flower in front and back registration, number panel, micro letters, ID mark, register, latent image electrolyte water mark, omron anti-copying feature and optically variable ink.

Those arrested can be booked under Section 11 of the Customs Act, 1962, under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act, apart from Sections 489 (A) (counterfeiting currency notes), 489 (B) (using as genuine, forged or counterfeit currency notes), 489 (C), 489 (D) and 489 (E) of the IPC.

It hasn’t helped that the country’s borders with Nepal and Bangladesh are porous. The Indo-Bangaldesh border at Dharam Nagar (north Tripura), Karimganj district of Assam and Malda in West Bengal are used to bring FICNs to the north-east . Flights from Dubai, especially to Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Mangalore , are considered sensitive as are those from Colombo to Chennai. Bangalore and Kozhikode are some of the distribution centres of FICNs.

According to DRI sources, the price of an FICN with a face value of Rs 1,000 ranges between Rs 350 and Rs 400 at the time of its entry into India. When it reaches a wholesale distributor, the price goes up to Rs 550-Rs 600 and further rises to Rs 750-Rs 800 at a retailer. According to sources, India’s borders with Pakistan, Nepal and Bangaldesh, the Samjhauta Express from Pakistan, and passengers coming by air from Dubai, Pakistan, Thailand , Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malysia are being monitored to check the flow of fake currency.

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There is nothing Dharavi about Dharavi

April 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

IT’S LUNCHTIME at a Tamil wedding in a local Ganesh temple and you expect to hear strains of the nadaswaram. Instead, you hear Shakira insisting that her “hips don’t lie”, followed by Sean Paul claiming he’s “got the right temperature to shelter you from the storm”.

This is Dharavi. “And please don’t call it Asia’s largest slum,” says 24-year-old Sudarshan Sukumar, a stocky leather goods trader who grew up here.

Home to more than 7 lakh people, including Tamils, Maharashtrians, migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Muslims, Dharavi is on the brink of a transformation. A multi-crore project hopes to erase the thousands of 8 foot by 10 foot shanties spread over 550 acres and replace them with towering luxury commercial and residential spaces.

In one corner, buildings constructed by the government will house the original residents, who will each get a small, 225-square-foot flat as compensation for the loss of their shanties. “But this is not just a slum,” says Vishwanath Nikam, a local activist.

“Dharavi is a way of life. Each group of shanties is home to a little community and those communities will be destroyed if they are transferred to vertical matchboxes of living space.

” Where will the Kumbhars make their earthen pots, Nikam asks. Where will the women dry the chillies and dal for their famous pickles and papads? For the 11 lakh voters registered here, the acknowledgment that Dharavi has grown beyond a den of counterfeit goods and small-time thugs is a key demand ahead of the general election.

After all, it could mean the difference between unemployment and a good job. “Today, if we say we are from Dharavi, our job applications get turned down.

We don’t get loans,” says Palraj Balasingh a 25-year-old Tamilian who has grown up here and now works at an education trust. “What people outside don’t realise is that things have changed,” Balasingh adds, in fluent if accented English.

Dharavi has its own local economy, disorganised but thriving. And there’s more to the tiny units now than the knockoff Prada and Gucci tags that look astonishingly like the originals.

Efficient units produce bags, clothes and shoes that are exported around the world, netting a total of $650 million a year. Walk through the narrow, sunshine-deprived bylanes and you’ll see tannery workers washing animal skins.

Further down is the kumbharwada, where potters are readying earthen pots in time to meet the summer demand. Next are garment manufacturers, beyond that a plastic recycling unit.

The outer periphery is more presentable. Small, glass-fronted shops sell the city’s most popular – and most economical – leather goods.

The slum is the supply chain, the brand and the marketing strategy. The families who have move into the government-built apartments already cannot afford to pay the monthly maintenance dues.

Many are selling the flats and moving to the outer reaches of the city, where space is easier to find and living is more affordable. In Dharavi, they are hoping their leaders who will ensure that the benefits of development reach them.

And, for now, they are focussing on shedding the tag of Asia’s biggest slum. “The only thing that is not manufactured here is currency,” grins 49-year-old K. Thangapandi, a resident of 30 years.

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UK websites flooded with 800 million pounds of fake goods

March 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Mar.20 (ANI): Online shopping sites in Britain are flooded with fake goods such as counterfeit designer clothing and computer softwares.

According to a research was carried out by the online marketplace Price Minister, these fake goods are worth a whopping 800 million pounds.

One can find counterfeit designer range of handbags, accessories, perfume, cosmetics, watches, jewellery, clothing, and all other commodities on different websites.

With the technology emerging as the biggest sector in this grey market, these websites also offers spurious computer softwares with fake Apple, Microsoft and Nokia goods among the most common.

According t0 Scotsman, the number of fake items being sold online is rising by 50 per cent a year.

The research also revealed that there has been a 45 per cent rise in sites offering fake goods since 2007.

The online marketplace Price Minister said it had blocked about 3000 seller accounts from its website. (ANI)

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Fake-drug-warning advert shows man coughing up rat

January 16, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

London, Jan 16 (ANI): A new advert warning people against the dangers of buying drugs over the internet has featured a man coughing up a dead rat.
Made by Pfizer, the advert will be screened in cinemas and has been classified at 15 owing to the graphic nature of the scenes.

The advert shows a man pulling out a dead rat from his mouth after taking a pill he has bought online.

It highlights the risks posed by counterfeit medicines, often sold via websites, which may not work or even be harmful.

A Pfizer report has cited that one in ten men have admitted buying drugs over the internet without a prescription.

In fact, one of the most popular drugs bought online is Viagra made by the company.

The commercial has the backing of the UK medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and leading patient representatives including The Patients Association, Men’s Health Forum and Heart UK.
We are thrilled to be collaborating with the MHRA and leading UK patient organisations to tackle the industry wide problem of counterfeit medicines head on. The time has definitely come to issue a clear, unified message to people about the dangers of purchasing medicines from illicit and unregulated sources,” the Telegraph quoted Dr David Gillen, Pfizer’s Medical Director, as saying.

He added: “This advertising campaign forms part of a wider public education campaign launched by Pfizer last year to ensure the public is aware of the health risks they are taking by buying and consuming counterfeit medicines, potentially without even a proper diagnosis from a qualified healthcare professional.” (ANI)

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China promises to investigate how alleged fake pills reached Britain

January 8, 2009 By Rajiv Gupta Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Jan 8 (ANI): China’s drug watchdog has promised to investigate how alleged counterfeit pills, which were made in China, ended up being used by the British National Health Service (NHS).

“We will conduct relevant investigations and will surely punish companies or individuals who manufacture fake pharmaceuticals for export,” Yan Jiangying, spokeswoman with State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), said on Wednesday.

“If we find any clues of illegal medicine production for export, we will track them down,” Xinhua quoted the spokeswoman, as saying.

Earlier, The Guardian newspaper reported on January 4, “counterfeiting gangs based in China” produced some eight million fake pills, which went to NHS patients last year.

Chinese police authorities recently traveled to London to discuss the growing problem, The Guardian said.

Yan reiterated China’s resolution to crackdown on importing or exporting fake medicines. She emphasized that the government adopted international principles and practices to regulate the issue.

According to Chinese laws, medicine exporters should acquire government-issued certificates to run their business. Exported pills should be accompanied by permission papers for sales in accordance with requirements of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The spokeswoman said foreign pharmaceutical traders should cooperate with certified Chinese partners to ensure qualified and safe medicines. (ANI)

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Fake drugs made by Chinese counterfeiting gangs flood Britain

January 4, 2009 By Rajiv Gupta 1 Comment

London, Jan 4 (ANI): Counterfeiting gangs based in China are producing sophisticated copies of the world’s best selling pharmaceuticals and in 2008 an estimated eight million of these deadly pills found their way to NHS patients in Britain, risking health of millions of people.

They were made in China, labelled in French and then shipped to Singapore. They ended up in Liverpool and from there were sold straight into the heart of the NHS, The Observer reported.

As the criminal investigation continues into how a fake consignment of Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic treatment prescribed for schizophrenia, infiltrated Britain’s healthcare system last year, evidence is mounting that sophisticated counterfeiting syndicates are increasingly targeting Britain’s network of high-street chemists, hospitals and GP surgeries.

Figures collated for the first time reveal that British border officials seized more than half a million counterfeit pills destined for the NHS and high-street chemists last year, an amount equal to the quantity of counterfeit drugs found in the whole of Europe in 2005.

So vast is the scale of the threat from fake medicines that public confidence in the NHS could be “completely undermined”, according to legal experts. Health officials also warn that the health of millions of Britons is potentially at risk, the paper said.

Customs officials and the Home Office border agency intercepted more than three million pounds of fake life-saving medicines for ailments such as heart disease and cancer in the first 10 months of 2008. Three consignments were each larger than 100,000 pills.

Latest government intelligence indicates that criminal gangs operating largely out of China have shifted away from selling fake “lifestyle” drugs such as Viagra on the Internet and are now concentrating on supplying counterfeit life-saving medicines to the NHS, The Observer reported.

Profits are potentially greater, with the high price of medicines in the UK ensuring that it has emerged as a prime target for criminals, according to the government agency that oversees the safety of medicines, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. (ANI)

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Becks’ shirts and souvenirs facing mafia piracy threats in Italy

November 4, 2008 By Rajiv Gupta Leave a Comment

London, (ANI): The biggest challenge for David Beckham when he lands up in Italy for his loan period with AC Milan will be fighting merchandise piracy by the Italian Mafia.

Police have warned that the feared ’Ndragheta’ crime clan is all set to cash in on the England star’s popularity by manufacturing a large number of fake Beckham shirts and souvenirs.

According to FBI agents in America, counterfeiters working for the Mafia may soon be churning out fake merchandise to cash in on the Beckham fever.

The source of their information, suspected international drug trafficker Giuseppe Collucio, is said to be a senior underboss of the ’Ndragheta, which operates in the Calabria region of Italy.

After getting arrested in Canada earlier this year, Collucio revealed that the Italian government’s war on the mob is the reason why the racketeers have resorted to less violent but hugely lucrative ventures, including merchandise piracy.

“In Italy, Beckham and his business team are going to find the operation there isn’t run by small-time crooks,” the Daily star quoted a senior FBI agent in Los Angeles as saying.

The official added: “The Mafia has the means and the money to set up elaborate counterfeit rings. And their street sellers had better not sell anything else, including genuine articles, or they will face very swift retribution.”

It is speculated that Italy will see an economical boost by Beckham’s arrival, but the large-scale piracy operation via the infamous ’Ndragheta family, might just cost the Goldenballs a fortune.

Piracy might not even spare Posh’s latest fashion lines, for one might jut see her trendy jeans being sold off in Milan in mob-run sweatshops.

“David’s already a little jittery about personal security over there,” said a source at the LA Galaxy club.

The source added: “But he’s going to be pissed at the thought of racketeers cashing in on his name. Fan fever follows David wherever he goes and I know for a fact that his business team has made big efforts to stamp out piracy here.

“That might not be quite so easy – or safe – if the pirates in Italy are working for the Mafia.” (ANI)

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