Buying and selling counterfeit Apple products such as 'exploding charger' is rampant on Instagram
In recent years, marketing activities via SNS have become popular, and there are companies that sell various products through SNS accounts. However, on Instagram, buying and selling of 'fake Apple products' is rampant, and some even sell dangerous things like 'exploding chargers'.
If Your iPhone Charger Blows Up, It May Be a Fake Sold on Instagram - Bloomberg
Andrea Stroppa, who belongs to the social media research company Ghost Data Team, is an expert in investigating online counterfeit goods ranging from branded goods to counterfeit banknotes. In 2020, Stroppa borrowed a charger from a friend and was on vacation in Capri, Italy, when the charger suddenly exploded.
My friend purchased the charger not from Apple's official channel, but from an unofficial vendor who sold accessories such as chargers claiming to be ``genuine Apple products'' on Instagram, and the purchase price was higher than the original price. was also about 25% cheaper. A friend who was surprised to hear that the charger exploded hurriedly contacted the vendor who purchased it, but it seems that the vendor had already lost contact at that time.
In response to the incident, Stroppa and colleagues conducted an investigation of vendors selling counterfeit Apple accessories on Instagram from February 8 to March 8, 2021. It seems that the research team monitored 163 vendors during the survey period, and the most popular product was 'AirPods Pro' with a selling price of $ 25 (about 27,000 yen), which is significantly lower than the usual $ 249 (about 27,000 yen) About 2700 yen), Stroppa reports that the wireless charger MagSafe Charger was sold for about $ 5.5 (about 600 yen), which is cheaper than the original $ 38 (about 4100 yen).
In 2020 alone, the Instagram accounts surveyed posted 50,000 sales posts, with a total of 600,000 likes and comments. It is said that payment using WeChat Pay and PayPal is mainly preferred in the sales market of counterfeit luxury goods, but it seems that payment by bank transfer and credit card was preferred in the market of counterfeit Apple products. . There was also a counterfeit seller who sold $ 140,000 (about 15 million yen) in one day.
Sellers illegally manufacture counterfeit Apple accessories, mainly in China, and sell products that look just like the real thing on Instagram. It seems that the target is mainly customers in the United States and Europe, and the market size is expected to reach millions of dollars (hundreds of millions of yen).
The research team claims that its research aims to highlight the difficulty Instagram is having in properly addressing the dangers Instagram's long-standing market for counterfeit products poses to Apple and consumers. 'Facebook is guilty of failing to make the right investments and protect American businesses and citizens around the world who use the platform,' he said.
An Apple spokesperson said, 'Customer safety is our number one priority, and the risks associated with counterfeit goods can be very serious. We have a team of experts working continuously with media companies and e-commerce sites to keep counterfeit products out of the market, and we will remove over 1 million counterfeit Apple products from online marketplaces like Facebook and Instagram in 2020. I asked for it, ”he commented.
In recent years, the conflict between Facebook and Apple has deepened, and it has been pointed out that they are ``all-out.'' Both companies are competitors that develop messaging apps, and at the same time, Facebook, which makes advertising a pillar of revenue, strongly opposes Apple, which has set limits on advertising identifiers and IDFAs to protect user privacy. increase.
Why are Apple and Facebook facing each other? -GIGAZINE
Some say that the distribution of counterfeit Apple products on Instagram under these circumstances may become a source of new conflict. ``It is very ironic that Chinese individuals and organizations are using American social media networks that are blocked in their own country for business that preys on American corporations,'' the research team said. rice field.
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