Angelenos might want to check the authenticity of gifted apparel this holiday season. Santa might squeeze down the chimney with imitation brands in his sac. A six-week worldwide counterfeit good operation has yielded the seizure of over $4 million in bogus merchandise in Los Angeles alone. more ›

If you asked Siri, "Find me $250,000 worth of counterfeit iPhone parts," last Thursday, she should have directed you to the nearby cities of Walnut, Rowland Heights and Covina. A three month investigation conducted by detectives from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, Commercial Crimes Bureau ended in three arrests and the seizure of approximately $250k worth of counterfeit iPhone parts on Thursday, October 20. more ›

For one man, it's all about the faux-benjamins. According to ABC News, a man has recently been seen on security cameras using counterfeit $100 bills to make purchases at stores in the Palmdale area. more ›

Inspectors at LAX today encountered a not-so-pretty find : About 5,400 fake M.A.C makeup brushes attempting to land in L.A. from China, reports CBS2. The faux beauty tools arrived, and seized, " in five shipments at an air cargo express consignment location between Jan. 20 and Feb. 11," according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rep. The big pile of fake M.A.C. was estimated as having a retail value of $112,500. Okay, so are fake makeup brushes really a big deal? Yes, say customs officials, because they're sort of a gateway drug to other offenses: "the trading of illegitimate goods is often linked to and provides funding for various other criminal enterprises." more ›

Three men and one woman were arrested yesterday following the bust of two Downtown Los Angeles locations where hundreds of cartons of counterfeit cigarettes were being distributed. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department executed the search warrants as a follow-up to previous arrests in East Los Angeles of people who were selling the smokes on the street. more ›

Upwards of $10 million in counterfeit iPods, iPhones and other items shipped from Asia have been seized from a "sophisticated downtown warehouse operation" in a theft-case that was started by the Los Angeles Port Police stemming from a stolen-cargo investigation, reports the LA Times. more ›

City Controller Wendy Greuel is working hard to stamp out counterfeiters, whose fake DVDs, CDs, and clothes glut the streets of Los Angeles and represent theft from hardworking Angelenos, explains a press release issued by her office regarding "Operation Chimney Sweep," the crack down by the Los Angeles Anti-Piracy Task Force hailed as "the largest raid on counterfeit goods in Los Angeles history." more ›

Almost as soon as it went up, it was gone. But did this portion of the elusive Banksy's art get stolen, or sold? more ›

One of the largest counterfeit currency rings in Southern California has been broken up after a three-month investigation leading federal agents to arrest five people. One of the caught suspects is a 35-year-old Sherman Oaks man, "who who allegedly cut the counterfeit bills and glued them together," according to the Daily News. more ›

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pissed about the "hundreds of billions" of dollars swallowed by piracy and counterfeiting and it has taken the outrage to our fair City of Angels ("...and Demons," as the press release says). The Chamber has released results of a Gallup survey, coinciding with this week's Counterfeiting and Piracy Awareness shenanigans claiming that one-quarter of all Angelenos are admitted pirates. But we're certain that percentage is far greater. In fact,... more ›