Counterfeit and Forgery

Fraud groups take billions of dollars a year out of the music industry through fake streams, a streaming technology company has warned.

At least 10% of all song streams are fraudulent, and this takes between $2bn and $3bn (£1.6bn and £2.4bn) out of the global music industry each year according to Beatdapp, the streaming fraud detection platform.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/fraud-gangs-stealing-billions-from-music-industry-via-fake-streams/ar-BB1pn5vH

Royal Mail is reportedly investigating claims that people have been wrongly fined after being sent letters with new barcoded stamps.

Members of the public have complained they had to pay £5 penalties to collect post because the stamps were deemed to be counterfeit, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Between July and September, purchase scams made up 45% of all scams reported to the building society.

Nearly half of all scams reported to Nationwide during the summer involved shoppers being tricked into buying fake or non-existent products, the building society has said.

https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/uk-news/2023/12/04/shoppers-being-duped-by-fake-sellers-all-year-round-nationwide-warns/

Counterfeit clothing, handbags and watches, worth an estimated loss to the industry of £5 million, were seized during raids in Camden, north London.

Officers from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) at City of London Police seized the fake goods from two shops on Camden High Street on Tuesday 15 August 2023.

A trainee conveyancer who used her professional skills to forge sale contracts and tenancy agreements to try and get her son into an in-demand school has been handed a suspended jail sentence.

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/trainee-conveyancer-used-skills-in-school-place-fraud

Sports bodies and owners of broadcast rights for sports events should invest in monitoring for illegal streaming and consider the options they have for enforcing their rights against infringers in the context of their commercial objectives, according to experts in dispute resolution and brand protection in the sports sector.

https://www.pinsentmasons.com/en-gb/out-law/news/sports-bodies-have-options-tackling-illegal-streaming

The Premier League has revealed that five operators of illegal streaming networks have been jailed.

Three pirate streaming organisations are said to have unlawfully offered access to watch games in the English top flight.

A man caught selling illegal stream subscriptions to the UK’s biggest sporting events over Twitter has been jailed in his absence after he fled the country.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-convicted-selling-bt-sport-154208590.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr

The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) at City of London Police and its partners have executed a series of raids across the country as part of a crackdown on the supply of illegal streaming services.

https://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/news/city-of-london/news/2023/february/four-arrested-during-nationwide-crackdown-on-the-supply-of-illegal-streaming-services/

The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) at City of London Police and its partners have executed a series of raids across the country as part of a crackdown on the supply of illegal streaming services.

https://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/news/city-of-london/news/2023/february/four-arrested-during-nationwide-crackdown-on-the-supply-of-illegal-streaming-services/