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Inside the Rise of Luxury Fakes: How Influencers and VIP Gifts Sparked a New Counterfeit Market

Published

2 years ago

February 21, 2024

Inside the Rise of Luxury Fakes: How Influencers and VIP Gifts Sparked a New Counterfeit Market

Call her Sherlock Hermès. Ingrid Chua, a journalist and blogger behind the Bag Hag Diaries, started noticing a strange phenomenon back in 2019, mostly on Instagram and high-end resale sites. They were flooded with oddball luxury items—pouches, tote bags, and beach towels—priced at a fraction of, say, a leather purse. These goodies were touted as never-for-sale VIP gifts, treats handed to friends of the brand, influencers, or free-spending clients. Chua’s suspicions were piqued by the volumes on offer, perhaps 20 or more from a single seller who might also offer a wait list for the next delivery. “If you’re a VIP, you might get one or two things, but how do they have batch after batch of them? It was seriously shady,” she scoffs.

So, Chua started snooping, setting up fake Insta handles to query the sellers on that platform. It was obvious to her that most, if not all, of these items were counterfeit. When she started sharing screengrabs of her exchanges on her Instagram Stories, the abuse began. “I got threats, things like ‘We’re going to sue you, you’re making us lose revenue.’” Undeterred, Chua kept digging, even hiring a trio of photographers to analyze images shared as part of the sales pitches. Take the makeup pouch purportedly offered by Chanel Beauty as a thank you to certain customers that was pictured on one of the brand’s makeup counters. “Guess what? All three of them said it was superimposed on the image—there was no reflection in the vitrine,” she says.

Chua’s crusade is well-timed. Luxury brands have embraced the trappings of so-called clienteling with more gusto than ever, competing to outdo each other in their cosseting of VICs (Very Important Clients); keeping influencers onside the same way is vital, too. One now-commonplace tactic for both involves creating one-off, branded keepsakes that will be gifted rather than sold; these may be available only to certain buyers or are never even offered in the retail environment. There might be a leather wristlet, a key fob, or a small pouch; Prada sent limited-edition shirts to a small number of VICs as a Christmas gift, while Chanel could send a top buyer some throw pillows as a birthday shoutout.

Still, those who don’t receive such treats still want them and will pay handsomely for that freebie. “I often get sourcing requests for VIP gifts, usually Chanel ones—most recently, it was the free Chanel T-shirt that was sent with invitations to the latest Chanel show in Los Angeles,” says Gab Waller, who runs a business scoring hard-to-find luxury items for clients. In that case, Waller, who is based in California, happened to have a personal friend who received one and was happy to resell it. “It was a one-off exception, because 99 percent of the time, I decline the request,” she says. “With my flat-rate sourcing fee, the price could get high very quickly. And it’s hard for me to justify the resale price on an item that was essentially free. That doesn’t sit right with me.” The fact that most come via the resale market—and have murky provenance as a result—makes Waller even warier.

Courtesy of Ingrid Chua

Delphine Sarfati-Sobreira agrees. The Paris-based executive runs Unifab, or the Union des Fabricants, which effectively campaigns against counterfeiting on all fronts on behalf of 200 or so members, including Hermès, Yves Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga. She cites data that 52 percent of Europeans aged 15 to 24 bought a counterfeit product last year, and in France, just over a third of buyers unknowingly bought a fake online. “The difference between now and 15 years ago, when someone was press or a VIP client and received a gift, they will keep it,” Sarfati-Sobreira tells Robb Report, “Now, with the rise of influencers, they resell it on secondhand platforms. And then counterfeiters see that and decide to sell their own products the same way.” Influencers, she explains, both turned on a spigot of selling VIP gifts on the secondary market while driving up demand for them in the luxury-loving public.

“Gifts have been quietly regifted or resold forever,” says Susan Scafidi, “but in the era of influencers, luxury is being defined as access to experience, [rather] than to goods anyone can buy with enough money. And these items are now proof of that experience.” Scafidi is a Fordham University professor in New York City, with particular expertise in luxury counterfeiting and head of the non-profit Fashion Law Institute. She says these freebies are heavy with “cultural capital,” tokens of clout and access. That little bag on the front-row seat at a show is a heavy hitter for a certain demographic. “They appeal to people who wish they could have been there, and want to emulate the people who were,” Scafidi says.

The surge in branded items that have little to no value—a cotton T-shirt or plastic pouch rather than a leather bag, for example—has been driven by the clampdown in tax law, Scafidi explains, whereby freebies like this are taxable. (Last year’s Oscar gift bag, for example, would trigger at least $46,000 to the IRS, and came with a 1099 to make declaring that debt even easier.) Better, then, to offer something whose value is merely branding rather than the materials from which it’s made. Counterfeiting a logo, of course, is much easier than duplicating workmanship or high-quality hide. Scafidi herself points to a T-shirt sent out by a brand she declines to name citing professional concerns: “On the front, in big bold letters, was the logo and, still attached, was the American Apparel label, too.”

Scafidi adds that there’s a particular wrinkle in American law that makes faking these freebies even more appealing stateside. “U.S. law requires that a trademark be used in commerce to protect it. Something given away in a product category that a brand doesn’t ordinarily produce—a Champagne flute from a company that produces clothing and small leather goods, for example. Technically it wouldn’t be protected.” Household names, she continues, could pursue claims against brand dilution, but anti-counterfeiting controls are much harder to apply to anything that was, at least initially, given rather than sold.

There’s another reason driving the surge in sales of shoddy, or counterfeit, gifts: the explosion of resale sites like TheRealReal or Vinted. Unlike a traditional consignment boutique, which operated on a smaller scale often with regular consignees known to the owner, these are world-spanning businesses with aggressive ambitions to scale. See, for example, how Vestiaire Collective is now run by start-up superstar Max Bittner, whose first business sold for billions to Alibaba, or the blockbuster IPO four years ago from TheRealReal, which raised $300 million (though the shares, priced at $20 for the offering, now hover at barely one-tenth of that). “Once you give the average consumer out there control to post anything in a marketplace, you’re basically putting up a luxury Craigslist,” says Chua, “It’s a free-for-all and caveat emptor. You just have to hope not to get screwed.” Indeed, one reseller—in this case, the decades-old What Goes Around Comes Around in New York—just lost a lawsuit with Chanel around these very items. The French luxury house accused the shop of selling counterfeit goods and promotional items that were not intended for sale. The judge just ruled in Chanel’s favor over everything from trademark infringement to false advertising, landing the reseller with a $4 million bill for damages.

An authentic Chanel logo item (top) and a counterfeit one.

Courtesy of Ingrid Chua

London-based Winston Chesterfield runs his own luxury consultancy, Barton. He says the Internet-driven transformation of the secondary market is fundamental to the problem: “When you do a private show for your ultra-high-end clients, those spending more than $100,000 in a Mayfair townhouse, they’ll give a bag of goodies at the end of it. But the client isn’t interested in them—nine out of 10 people like that you speak to? They’ll give those to their PA or housemaid.” In the past, Chesterfield says, that pass-along treat would have been used or perhaps occasionally sold to a friend. Now, it’s a lucrative moneymaker on eBay, creating a secondary market that’s easily exploited by unscrupulous counterfeiters. Chesterfield echoes Scafidi’s idea that the current quality of these giveaways is also a factor. “They’re producing for the lowest common denominator, pap that the higher-end, higher-value clients don’t want and don’t need. It’s the marketing department taking the initiative, and it’s a little bit out of control.”

Brands, unsurprisingly, aren’t keen to engage on the topic, whether those resale platforms or the designer marques themselves. May Berthelot, who runs the anti-counterfeiting operation at Vinted and has shared social media screeds on this topic, declined to speak to Robb Report. Note, though, that platforms like that are increasingly banning VIP gifts from being offered for sale—the Bittner-run Vestiaire Collective, for example, will not sell “VIP gifts (items received at press or VIP events, items gifted by the brand, free gifts offered in-store as part of a purchase), or items not for sale (including items marked as Not for Sale, samples, packaging etc.).”

Still, perhaps the best way to tackle the issue isn’t policing the sale but polluting the appeal. Harriet Quick cofounded Luminaire, a luxury sourcing start-up aimed at VICs. “I don’t think our clients are that interested in these items, the whole swathe of gifting that goes to influencers,” she says. “It doesn’t suit them, because it’s all a bit too hype-y.” Put simply, such items are both exclusive, and not very exclusive at all. Certainly, anyone trying to offload one online won’t be the original recipient. “The irony of this is that the VIP, that high-spending couture buyer somewhere like Dior or Chanel, probably just gives away the gift to someone or, quite frankly, throws it in the trash,” says Barton’s Chesterfield, of their tarnished appeal. “They’re very unlikely to bother taking pictures, writing up a description, and then chucking it online.”

Mark Ellwood

British-born, NYC-based Mark Ellwood is Robb Report’s editor-at-large. He has lived out of a suitcase for most of his life, covering luxury in all its forms across the world. Among his favorite…

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World

Consumers should do their research before giving in to Travel Tuesday temptation

Published

10 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Press Room

Consumers should do their research before giving in to Travel Tuesday temptation

NEW YORK (AP) — Chain stores have Black Friday. Online marketplaces have Cyber Monday. For local businesses, it’s Small Business Saturday.

In the last 20 years, more segments of the retail industry have vied for their own piece of the holiday shopping season. The travel trade has firmly joined the trend with another post-Thanksgiving sales push: Travel Tuesday.

On the same day as the nonprofit world’s Giving Tuesday, airlines, hotels, cruise ship companies, travel booking platforms and tour operators get in on the annual spirit to spend by promoting one-day deals. Consumer advocates say there are legitimate savings to be had but also chances to be misled by marketing that conveys a false sense of urgency.

“People see ‘40 percent off’ and assume it’s a once-in-a-lifetime steal, without recognizing that the underlying price may have been inflated or that the same itinerary was cheaper last month.” Sally French, a travel expert at personal finance site NerdWallet, said.

She and other seasoned travelers advised consumers who want to see if they can save money by booking trips on Travel Tuesday to do research in advance and to pay especially close pay to the fine print attached to offers.

People hoping to score last-minute deals for Christmas or New Year’s should double-check for blackout dates or other restrictions, recommended Lindsay Schwimer, a consumer expert for the online travel site Hopper.

This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.

It’s also wise to to keep an eye out for nonrefundable fares, resort fees, double occupancy requirements or upgrade conditions that may be hidden within advertised discounts, according to French.

Shoppers should be wary of travel packages with extra transportation options or add-on offers, French said. Instead of lowering fares or room rates, some companies use statement credits, extra points, included amenities and bundled extras as a way to tempt potential customers, she said.

“Many travel brands want to keep sticker prices high to maintain an aura of luxury, but they still need to fill planes, ships and hotel rooms,” French said. “Add-on perks are their workaround.”

Consumers who are prepared rather than impulsive and on the lookout for the up-sell are in a much better position to identify authentic bargains, consumer experts stressed. Knowing what a specific trip would typically cost and comparison shopping can help expose offers based on inflated underlying costs and whether the same itinerary might have been cheaper at other times, they said.

“Compare prices, check your calendar and make sure the trip you’re booking is something you genuinely want, not something you bought because a countdown timer pressured you,” French said. “What gets glossed over is that the best deal might be not booking anything at all if it doesn’t align with your plans.”

Travel Tuesday came about based on existing industry trends. In 2017, Hopper analyzed historical pricing data and found that in each of the nine previous years, the biggest day for post-Thanksgiving travel discounts was the day after Cyber Monday.

The site named the day Travel Tuesday. The number of offers within that time-targeted window and the number of travelers looking for them has since expanded.

“Nearly three times as many trips were planned on Travel Tuesday last year compared to Black Friday,” Hopper’s Schwimer said. “We continue to see growth in the day, year over year, as more travel brands and categories offer deals.”

The event’s origin story is in with the National Retail Federation coined Cyber Monday in 2005 as a response to the emerging e-commerce era. American Express came up with Small Business Saturday in 2010 to direct buyers and their dollars to smaller retailers, credit card fees and all.

A report by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company last year noted that November and December tend to be slow months for travel bookings, making Travel Tuesday a “marketing moment” that could help boost revenue.

Hotel, cruise and and airline bookings by U.S. travelers increased significantly on Travel Tuesday 2023 compared with the two weeks before and after the day, the report’s authors wrote, citing data provided by the travel marketing platform Sojern.

While Travel Tuesday so far has been mostly confined to the United States and Canada, “European travel companies can anticipate the possibility that Travel Tuesday will become a growing phenomenon in their region, given that other shopping days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday have spread beyond North America,” the report stated.

Vivek Pandya, lead insights analyst for Adobe Analytics, which tracks online spending, said consumers have more tools than ever this holiday season to help them determine if deals hold up to scrutiny.

“Social journeys, influencers providing promo codes and values, and generative AI platforms taking all that in – the prices, the social conversation, the reviews – and giving guidance to the consumer, that’s a very different, dynamic kind of journey consumers are taking than they have in previous seasons,” Pandya said.

Both he and French emphasized that prices rise and fall based on multiple factors, and that the winter holidays are not the only major promotional period of the year.

“We now have dozens of consumer spending ‘holidays,’” French said. “Amazon alone keeps adding new versions of Prime Day. So if you don’t buy on Travel Tuesday, you haven’t missed your moment.”

——

The Associated Press receives support from the Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

World

Israel releases body-cam video of deadly Syria raid targeting Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated terrorists

Published

12 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Press Room

Israel releases body-cam video of deadly Syria raid targeting Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated terrorists

IDF battles terrorists in Syria raid

Body-cam video shows face-to-face firefight between Israeli forces and terrorists in Beit Jann raid as IDF troops capture terror suspect. (Video: IDF Spokesman’s Unit.)

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The IDF released body-camera footage Friday from a rare face-to-face gun battle in southern Syria, where troops from the 55th Brigade were fired on while arresting members of al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, a Sunni terrorist group Israel identifies as part of the wider Muslim Brotherhood network.

The cross-border gun battle comes as the Trump administration moves to target Brotherhood affiliates and tensions spike between Netanyahu and Syria’s interim president.

The overnight operation took place in the Beit Jann area, roughly 10 kilometers inside Syria, under the 210th Division. According to the IDF, troops entered the area to detain suspects involved in planting IEDs and planning future attacks against Israel, including potential rocket fire. Two suspects were arrested before an exchange of fire erupted.

Six IDF soldiers were wounded, including three in serious condition. Several terrorists were killed, the IDF said, and the suspects were transferred to Israel for interrogation.

TRUMP MOVES AGAINST MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AS ISLAMIST GROUP SPREADS IN WEST

IDF troops move through the Beit Jann area in southern Syria during the overnight operation to apprehend members of Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, the Muslim Brotherhood-linked militant group. (IDF) (IDF)

Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, founded as the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, has cooperated with Hamas and Hezbollah, maintaining infrastructure in southern Lebanon and along the Syria-Lebanon border. The IDF says it has struck the organization’s sites in Syria and Lebanon repeatedly during the current war.

Channel 12 political correspondent Amit Segal noted Friday that the incident marks the first time since December 2024 — when Israeli forces took control of the Syrian side of Mount Hermon — that Israeli troops were wounded in a Syrian firefight.

Segal wrote: “Could Syria become the IDF’s new Lebanon? … With six soldiers wounded overnight, the big question is whether this is a one-off event, or if it signals the beginning of a long, uncomfortable Israeli presence in Syria.”

Tensions between Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have intensified since Sharaa’s unprecedented visit to Washington earlier this month. Sharaa met President Donald Trump at the White House for discussions on sanctions relief and counterterrorism coordination, making him the first Syrian leader to visit Washington since the Syrian war began.

IDF STRIKES HAMAS ‘TERRORIST TARGETS’ ACROSS GAZA FOLLOWING REPORTED CEASEFIRE VIOLATION

Israeli forces secure the area around Beit Jann after detaining two suspects and coming under fire in one of the most serious clashes on the Syrian front this year. (IDF)

Netanyahu publicly criticized the visit the same day, saying Sharaa “returned inflated with a sense of international legitimacy,” and warning that any U.S.-Syria discussions must “not come at Israel’s expense.”

Additional reporting in the Jerusalem Post and Channel 12 noted that security arrangements affecting Israel’s northern front were discussed in broad terms between U.S. and Syrian officials, though no agreements were reached, and Washington stressed that consultations with Israel were ongoing.

Friday’s clash came the same week the Trump administration launched a sweeping effort to designate Muslim Brotherhood affiliates as terrorist organizations. The White House directive instructs federal agencies to evaluate and sanction Brotherhood entities in countries including Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, citing global financial, political and operational ties among affiliates.

ISRAEL’S STRIKE IN QATAR TRIGGERS RARE US REBUKE, TESTS TRUMP’S GULF DIPLOMACY

IDF armored vehicles maneuver in the Beit Jann area of southern Syria during the overnight counterterrorism operation against Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya. (IDF)

The White House statement said the Brotherhood “fuels terrorism and destabilization campaigns against U.S. interests and allies.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, praised the move on his podcast Verdict, telling co-host Ben Ferguson that the designation marks the culmination of a decade of legislative efforts. Cruz said “This is literally 10 years of hard work, and it will make America safer because the Muslim Brotherhood is funding terrorists that want to murder you and want to murder me.”

He noted that many U.S. allies in the Middle East — including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE — have already outlawed the organization, telling listeners: “They really want the United States to do what President Trump did this week.”

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As Washington intensifies pressure on Brotherhood-linked movements, Israel is increasingly confronting Brotherhood-affiliated armed groups across the northern arena — from Hamas in Gaza to al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya in Syria and Lebanon.

With Beit Jann emerging as a focal point for cross-border operations, and American policy tightening, analysts say the regional confrontations involving Brotherhood-connected groups may be entering a new phase.

Efrat Lachter is an investigative reporter and war correspondent. Her work has taken her to 40 countries, including Ukraine, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan. She is a recipient of the 2024 Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalism. Lachter can be followed on X @efratlachter.

World

Hong Kong mourns victims of blaze as search for remains continues

Published

14 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Press Room

Hong Kong mourns victims of blaze as search for remains continues

At least 128 people died and 200 remain missing after the towers housing 4,600 people were engulfed by flames.

Published On 29 Nov 2025

People in Hong Kong are mourning the deaths of at least 128 people who died in the region’s largest blaze in decades in an eight-apartment residential complex.

The flags outside the central government offices were lowered to half-mast on Saturday as Hong Kong leader John Lee, other officials and civil servants, all dressed in black, gathered to pay their respects to those lost at the Wang Fuk Court estate since the fire on Wednesday.