Thread: Apple decleared war against fake iPhones from China

APPLE is working with the Australian Customs Service in a bid to stem the flow of thousands of counterfeit iPhones entering the local market from China.

An Apple spokeswoman said the company had supplied Australian Customs authorities with details of its trademarks in a bid to help the agency block the entry of iPhone counterfeits into the country.

Apple was acting on a tip from The Australian, which conducted a street-level investigation of an illegal operation to sell the fake phones in Sydney's pubs and to travellers at backpacker hostels.

Counterfeit sellers were asking for up to $400 for the fake units on the street, to take a margin of nearly $345 on the $55 wholesale price quoted by illegal importers.

One seller said he sourced his supply from an employee within Customs. The seller, who refused to supply a name, claimed that the employee used his position to circumvent Customs' usual vetting procedures to import the contraband in shipments of 5000 and 10,000 each.

He said his supplier acquired the phones in China at a cost of $18.50 per unit.

If the claims are true the scale of the operation dwarfs any that the Customs has recently discovered.

Customs said that last year it confiscated 3200 suspected counterfeit mobile phones and MP3 players in 83 seizures.

The tout The Australian spoke to said he recently narrowly missed out on securing a deal to purchase a shipment of 5000 units.

The Australian had an opportunity to compare the unit with an authentic iPhone. Superficially, it was hard to distinguish from a real iPhone and it seemed the counterfeiters could be using the shells intended for the assembly of authentic units.

On closer inspection of the fake phone, an obvious flaw was revealed. It carried markings identical to those of Apple-authorised iPhones. But a portion of the shell that contains a small access recess for a switch on the authentic unit is left empty, exposing the electronics inside.

Its touch-screen and application icons were nowhere near as polished as those in authentic units, but it did offer equivalent features. It could play music transferred to the phone from a computer by USB cable and its seller claimed the software could be updated and improved.

"(The customers) generally want to have something that looks like the real thing, so they can say that they have an iPhone," the seller said.

The tout said the fake units were popular among travellers and that some sellers were able to use the units as a form of portable wealth to fund their world trips.

The sellers courier a small amount from their supply of units ahead to their next destination to avoid passing through customs with large amounts of cash, and then sell them on arrival to finance their stay.

Recent media reports indicate that the fake units are gaining as much acceptance as the authentic units. Web users have started showcasing an iPhone "Mini" -- Apple doesn't manufacture a miniature version of the iPhone -- and other fake units on YouTube.