Counterfeiting, parallel sales, commerce on social media, VAT evasion, taxes and other charges, consumer scams, fake goods, no second hand collection, misleading advertising, unfair prices, pyramid schemes, rotten products without guarantees. a nicelist of offenses committed by criminal organizations in the most promising of markets, the online one, and in particular of hi-tech products. With thrilling figures: in the world 148 million of these hi-tech devices have been found to be counterfeits (those discovered) and only in Europe the value of these traffics reaches 170 billion dollars. Worldwide, 2018 saw a real explosion of this trend, reaching 460 billion dollars because global online sales of hi-tech products, which are worth just under 3 trillion dollars, are growing sharply. Between Gartner, Twice, Statista and Gfk, there is alarm among the hitech manufacturers' and distributors' associations because the correct operators and consumers suffer enormous damage. "Nobody wants to demonize online sales - said Andrea Scozzoli, president of Aires, the Italian Association of Specialized Appliances Retailers - as they are now an established trend all over the world and all Aires members are engaged in this channel". But apart from the - rare - reports of online crime operations, there are very few effective initiatives.
OPTIME, THE FIRST OBSERVATORY ON ONLINE OFFENSES
With one exception, this time Italian because, Optime was the first in Europe to declare war on the e-commerce of fraud and counterfeiting, the Permanent Observatory for the Protection of the Electronics Market in Italy, launched a year ago by the Aires, and strongly desired by its general manager, Davide Rossi. A war that revealed, on the occasion of the recent presentation of the first Report on online crimes, a disheartening panorama for the dimensions and impressive for the very serious damages that scams, counterfeits, evasions, avoidance and scams have caused and will increasingly cause to correct operators in the sector and to consumers, as well as the loss of tax revenue for our country.
The Report, presented by Davide Rossi, president of Optime, at the headquarters of the Rome Chamber of Commerce, has plunged the knife, so to speak, into the many wounds of a world that is growing everywhere by double digits. For the first time in fact they were identified and analyzed the different types of offences, that is, a series of data that are used to effectively prosecute and strike criminal organizations.
Here are some striking examples: Canon Europe has discovered numerous sites selling its products at 90 percent discounts. The Guardia di Finanza has closed, among many operations, 49 "open and close" sites of a single group of criminals who often sold online what they stole from shops. And who work in cahoots with very experienced professionals. And again, for each private copy of works reproduced on devices, the law establishes a payment of 5,60 euros which online criminals do not pay. And that traders pay instead.
EXPONENTIAL GROWTH OF NON-PAYMENT VAT
“Critical issues and distortions hit a market hard – underlined Rossi – which with its 17,1 billion euros in value, up by 1,2 percent in 2018, represents one point of GDP. It is true that e-commerce represents only 13,6% of this sector and that we are the last in Europe in this sector, but the Italian electronics market is distinguished by the many different phenomena of illegality which steal resources and create a widespread climate of distrust".
The more serious problem concerns exponentially growing VAT evasion: in a sector that suffers from low margins often below 10 percent, 22 percent evasion gives an invaluable advantage to dishonest operators and has long compromised the very survival of many shops. The problem originally derives from the diabolical mechanism that drives the entire sector into a downward spiral since it is the online price that acts as a parameter. But it is also serious that research conducted by multinationals on the alleged great advantages of e-commerce is creating confusion and an out-of-this-world optimism.
E-commerce is largely managed either by bearish multinationals by definition and mission or by thousands and thousands of micro groups of dubious transparency because they are structured in international criminal networks where the Visegrad countries often act protected by their governments. A recent maxi fraud discovered by the Guardia di Finanza of Naples and coordinated at European level led to the discovery of a round of false invoices worth 500 million managed by a criminal structure of Maltese, Romanian, Slovenian, Croatian and Estonian fictitious companies.
HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF? HERE IS THE OPTIME ONLINE DECALOGUE
The list of criminal activities is dramatic but at the same time extremely useful since it allows – thanks to Optime's transparency operation – to accurately frame the plot, the paths, the methods of action of these organizations which, among other things, they often operate with cryptocurrencies as well as rubles, in the boiling and uncontrollable pitch of the parallel architecture of the Internet, the Dark Net. And where, according to a very apt definition, in the Optime Report, this activity is cited as a sort of massive digital "capolarato" , with thousands of figureheads. The many online scams obviously also affect consumers for whom Optime has drawn up a concise prevention handbook. There are 10 fundamental points that start from the need to verify the company data, not to make wire transfers, not to stupidly buy products with exaggerated discounts, never to believe in positive reviews all, absolutely all false. Beware of rankings - paid, liars - like "the best TVs of 2018", "the best washing machines of the year"….
Beware of those who give disinterested advice. Pay attention to the withdrawal procedures and check that the right to withdraw the old appliance is precisely foreseen. The i's are fundamentalinformation on the real presence of official labels and brands.
