An image from HP Inc of some of the counterfeit toner cartridges seized
The OEM reported that three separate actions took place in the UK to seize almost 2,000 fake toner cartridges, which it called a “heavy setback” for counterfeiting in Europe.
In a PDF release, the OEM stated that it new actions in the UK “hamper [the] circulation of counterfeits”, with the three separate raids causing the “counterfeiting of cartridges for HP printers in Europe” to face “a heavy setback”. The 2,000 counterfeit cartridges were removed in two raids in October and November, and one in November at a “major distributor that is not an HP partner”.
The first two raids took place at “two companies selling fake cartridges online”, with officials “supported by HP ACF [Anti Counterfeiting and Fraud] experts” raiding the storage facilities of the two businesses. The third meanwhile saw hundreds of counterfeits identified by ACF experts “at a major distributor” in the UK, with “intelligence suggest[ing] that numerous illicit cartridges may already have been supplied to markets”.
HP Inc stated that the actions “tie in with other successes in the European Union”, with over 20,000 fake HP-branded cartridges recently “taken off the market” from November 2014 until November 2015. These include raids in France, Germany and Spain, with counterfeit computing products seized in addition to the counterfeit cartridges.
The OEM added that it “sincerely thanks all involved officials”, as “such dedicated actions strengthen customers’ protection from risky and typically-malfunctioning counterfeit goods”. In turn, it noted that the ACF programme has “in the last five years” supported authorities across the EMEA region, and seized “nearly 12 million illicit items”, while ACF experts have also helped “ensure that HP’s authorised sales channel is providing HP originals” by conducting “over 4,200 unannounced channel partner protection audits in the region”.