70 more websites seized in US copyright crackdown

A Louis Vuitton clock at the Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2012-2013 ready-to-wear collection show at the Louvre, Paris, in March. US authorities seized 70 websites suspected of selling counterfeit goods using luxury brand names such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany or Burberry and sports logos like NFL and MLB, officials said Thursday.

US authorities seized 70 websites suspected of selling counterfeit goods using luxury brand names such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany or Burberry and sports logos like NFL and MLB, officials said Thursday.

The seizures under five separate warrants in US courts is the latest action of Project Copy Cat, an effort of the US Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office.

ICE director John Morton told AFP that the latest seizures included some highly sophisticated operations, which created websites that looked nearly identical to legitimate ones.

"These are copycat sites, it is a very sophisticated effort to masquerade as the legitimate site," Morton said. "It is not getting people to buy cheap knockoffs, it is getting people to pay full price or nearly full price."

Some sites also use a fake SSL (secure sockets layer) certificate that leads customers to believe their credit cards are encrypted, officials said.

"This allows people to believe their financial information is encrypted but that seal is counterfeited as well," ICE spokesman Justin Cole said.

Since the effort began in 2010, a total of 839 websites or domain names have been seized.

This includes websites using the name louisvuittononlineoutletus.com or tiffanyandcojewelrysale.net, aimed at deceiving consumers into thinking they are purchasing legitimate goods from Tiffany or Louis Vuitton.

Many of the goods are counterfeit items made in China, officials said.

Morton said cooperation with Chinese authorities is "uneven, but it is getting better."

"There is a distressingly high level of this activity coming out of China," he said.

The seized sites, all hosted in the United States, have their front page replaced with images of federal seals from the US Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.

Visitors to the sites are met with a message reading: "This domain name has been seized by ICE -- Homeland Security Investigations, pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a United States District Court."

Cole said the owners of the websites have an opportunity to contest the seizure in court by showing they are selling legitimate goods.

"But in the most cases these are counterfeit producers and this is not happening," he said.

"In many cases these guys start up a new website and we have to find them again."

Of the 769 previous domain names seized, 229 have now been forfeited to the US government, officials said.

During the operation, federal agents made undercover purchases of a host of products, including baby carriers, professional sports jerseys, language and fitness DVD sets, and a variety of clothing, jewelry and luxury goods.

In cases where the goods were confirmed to be counterfeit or otherwise illegal, authorities went to court to obtain warrants to seize the domain names for the websites.

The probe stems from an intellectual property task force set up by the Justice Department.

Pending legislation would give US authorities even more tools to crack down on "rogue" websites accused of piracy of movies, television shows and music and the sale of counterfeit goods.

The bills have been backed by the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, the US Chamber of Commerce and others.

But they have come under fire from digital rights groups and Internet heavyweights such as Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo! who say they raise censorship concerns and threaten the architecture of the web.

(c) 2012 AFP
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The old, the vicious, and the uncaring heartless passers-by

GEORGE TOWN: Seven people walked past snatch theft victim Tan Kim Chuan (pic), 60, without lifting a finger to help her as she lay unconscious on the road with a cracked skull at the Rifle Range flats.

CCTV footage showed her lying on the road for about seven minutes (see sequence of events).

Kim Chuan, who fell and knocked her head on the road in the 6.02am incident on Tuesday, succumbed to her injuries nine hours later at the Penang Hospital.

Her sister Lay Yong, 63, wants the passers-by “to listen to their conscience”.

“Those who saw her should have done something the least they could have done was shout for help.

“How could they have just walked by? I am angry but what can I do?” Lay Yong said at the Penang Hospital mortuary yesterday.

Tears flow: Investigating officer Asst Supt Wong Yeut Oon sharing Lay Yong’s painful loss at the Penang Hospital mortuary.

She said Kim Chuan was on her way to the family-owned coffeeshop in Carnarvon Street.

She would take the bus every morning to help out at the coffeeshop.

“My sister was the sort of person who would not hesitate to help others. The snatch thief who did this to her was heartless,” she said.

Kim Chuan, a widow who had just moved into the Rifle Range flats two weeks ago, was walking alone near Block J of the flats when her handbag was snatched by a motorcyclist.

At about 6.10am, three good Samaritans lifted her to the side of the road and called for an ambulance.

Sequence of events.

Penang Hospital Department of Forensic Medicine head Datuk Dr Zahari Noor said the post-mortem showed the cause of death was multiple injuries to the head.

“She suffered internal bleeding in the head and the back of her skull cracked when she fell and hit the road the impact was strong,” he said.

The body will be cremated in Batu Gantong at 2pm today.

Meanwhile, George Town OCPD Asst Comm Gan Kong Meng urged the public to help police in catching the suspect.

“As we are unable to be everywhere at the same time, we value the information from the public, especially from those who may have witnessed the incident,” he told reporters after paying his last respects to Kim Chuan at the Mount Erskine funeral parlour.

He also advised the public to always offer help to those in need.

“A swifter response could have saved her life,” said ACP Gan.

Reports by LOURDES CHARLES, CHRISTINA CHIN, STEVEN CHIEW, CHONG KAH YUAN and HAFIZ MARZUKHI - The Star/Asia News Network

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Worst credit card repayer!

Survey reveals many Malaysians do not settle their debts in full each month

PETALING JAYA: A global survey has revealed that Malaysians are among the worst credit card repayers in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to the survey, less than half of the local respondents polled online say they repay their credit card debts in full every month.

Given this, Malaysia has one of the lowest repayment rates among the developing markets that were surveyed.

About 15% repay more than the minimum requirement while 18% of Malaysians repay only the minimum amount required.

This is although two out of five Malaysians polled claimed to use credit cards for shopping, dining and entertainment.

In contrast, the highest repayment rate was in Taiwan, where 89% of respondents service their credit card bills in full followed by Japan (87%) and South Korea (85%).

Neighbours Singapore and Indonesia also fared much better with 80% and 59% respectively, while only Vietnam came off worse than Malaysia at 27%.

The Nielsen Global Survey of Investment Attitudes also showed Malaysians are generally one of the top 10 savers in the world, but 45% of the online respondents also have various loans and insurance payments.

Meanwhile, two out of five Malaysian consumers are investing their money via various channels.

“Of those investing, 67% prefer mutual fund/unit trusts, 49% prefer stocks, 27% invest in gold, silver and other precious metals, a quarter in structured investment products, 15% in foreign currencies, 10% in bonds and 8% in derivatives,” said Nielsen in a press release yesterday.

The survey also disclosed that less than 19% of respondents rely on financial planners or advisers when deciding on personal finance or wealth matters.

On the other hand, 43% of the respondents make their own choices without anyone's advice while 21% seek advice from friends, relatives and colleagues.

Just one in every 10 persons rely on investment tips from commentators, experts or spokesmen broadcast over television, radio or the Internet, and six per cent make investment decisions on impulse.

“Knowing consumers' attitudes towards wealth management while creating relevant opportunities to engage with consumers and manage their needs is still a challenging task for financial planners and investment institutions, especially when four in 10 consumers do not trust others when making financial decisions,” said Nielsen Malaysia's head of Customised Research Luca Griseri.

The Nielsen Global Survey of Investment Attitudes was conducted from Feb 10-27 this year and polled more than 28,000 online consumers in 56 countries throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, the Middle East and Africa.

By REGINA LEE regina@thestar.com.my/Asia News Network