Protecting consumers in the “counterfeit matrix”

(PLVN) - With a smartphone, goods from everywhere are easily accessible to consumers. Counterfeit goods reach leading hospitals... It seems that consumers are surrounded by counterfeit goods. What can be done to protect consumers from this situation?

When consumers are… surrounded

Social networks and e-commerce are having a huge impact on social activities, especially consumer buying and selling activities. This is the main channel for counterfeit, fake, smuggled goods, goods of unknown origin, poor quality, and goods that infringe intellectual property rights... The reality of counterfeit production and sophisticated tricks to deal with inspections by authorities have been spoken out by many units. Setting up production workshops in remote locations, renting unlicensed facilities to mix poor quality materials, packaging, and labeling... is no longer new.

Most recently, Ms. Nguyen Kieu Oanh - Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade said that a new form is to import real drugs, then separate the blisters or packages, replace some pills with fake, poor quality drugs to increase profits, which is very difficult to detect by normal inspection. Not to mention the subjects using sophisticated packaging, labels, anti-counterfeit stamps copied from real products, even ordering aluminum foil printing, printing boxes similar to the original to deceive consumers and functional forces.

Many food safety experts even believe that there are more sophisticated tricks to bypass the authorities. That is, the producers will produce a few batches of real goods, have them tested, but then, during the production process of goods to be put on the market, they will start mixing in fake goods. This will be very difficult to detect if there are no serious consequences.

Not to mention, the current explosion of KOLs and KOCs also makes it more difficult to control counterfeit goods due to the advertising effects of people who are believed to influence consumers' shopping behavior. A representative of the National Competition Commission said that in recent years, the strong development of social networks has significantly changed the way consumers access information and make purchasing decisions.

Accordingly, consumers now tend to rely on the opinions of others when choosing brands, products or services. Comments and reviews from friends, relatives or people they trust have a great influence. In addition, social media users are also easily influenced by posts and recommendations from influencers. They often create a sense of familiarity by sharing personal stories, daily events, personal perspectives or creative content that makes followers feel close and trustworthy.

How to protect consumers?

The representative of the Consumer Protection Association said that the trend of online shopping is inevitable, and checking whether the goods are genuine or not online is also impossible, so in order for consumers to avoid buying fake goods, e-commerce platforms must be an input "filter". This is also the opinion that many Departments and Offices of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Science and Technology have repeatedly put forward. Accordingly, most of them believe that the owners of e-commerce platforms must be responsible for the goods sold on their "marketplaces", only when such responsibility is attached will the phenomenon of trading in fake and counterfeit goods decrease.

To ensure the legitimate rights of consumers and at the same time build a transparent and fair business environment, the National Competition Commission believes that it is necessary to require participating entities - business organizations, individuals and influencers to strictly comply with legal regulations on information provision and transparency in advertising activities. KOLs and KOCs must be responsible for providing information about receiving sponsorship to provide information to consumers and especially require KOLs and KOCs to be honest in providing information to consumers.

Mr. Tran Huu Linh - Director of the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development (Ministry of Industry and Trade) commented that recently, the police force has handled and arrested many KOLS... This determination and strictness has contributed to preventing and stopping violations. However, the authorities need to develop specific topics and inspection plans, focusing on "hot spots", key products, and key areas.

In addition, according to Mr. Tran Huu Linh, to protect themselves from the sophisticated tricks of those who produce and circulate counterfeit goods, consumers also need to proactively raise awareness in buying, selling, and consuming goods in accordance with the provisions of the law, avoiding unintentionally or intentionally assisting criminals in smuggling, producing and trading counterfeit goods, imitation goods, poor quality goods, and infringing on intellectual property.

When buying goods, you need to choose reputable addresses and brands that are trusted and voted by many consumers, especially when buying online; Quickly check the product through the manufacturer's hotline on the product packaging, information on the business's website, hotline phone number, look up business information on the public page of the tax authority, market management or the Department of Intellectual Property.

Nhat Thu

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/bao-ve-nguoi-tieu-dung-trong-ma-tran-hang-gia-post550837.html