Golf Counterfeiter's Arrested in China- All Major Brands

[D'KRUSHER]

Some of us may have bought phoney's- fakes. Buyers Beware !

I have heard some of you wondering why their driver, putters don't just seem " right". Some of you think you have bought fakes of the original. Sorry to bum you out... but you should read this:



Criminal Prosecution to Proceed Following Successful Raids of Three Counterfeit Golf Equipment Warehouses in ShanghaiShanghai, PRC - April 9, 2009 - The U.S. Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group (comprised of Acushnet Company, Callaway Golf, Cleveland Golf/Srixon, Nike Golf, PING and TaylorMade-adidas Golf Company) reports that the Shanghai Changning Public Procuratorate has confirmed that criminal prosecution will proceed against the owners of the three counterfeit golf club warehouses in the Chang-ning District of Shanghai. The defendants are Shi-Feng and Shi-Chun-Ping.

The criminal case against the two defendants follows on the heels of a successful series of raids jointly conducted by the Changning Administration for Industry and Commerce (AIC) and the Public Security Bureau (PSB) on November 27, 2008. The raids resulted in the arrest of the defendants and the seizure of more than 4000 counterfeit golf clubs, hundreds of golf bags, shoe bags and articles of apparel and nearly 6000 golf balls. The Chinese Price Valuation Authority has valued the seized goods at more than $1 million.

This enforcement action was initiated after a complaint was filed with the AIC by the U.S. Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group (the “Group”). The seized goods were illegal copies of products made by all six of the Group’s members.

The Group was formed in 2004 to petition governments to enforce their country’s laws against counterfeiters of golf equipment products. As a result of the Group’s petitioning efforts, dozens of successful raids of manufacturing, warehouse, assembly and retail facilities have been conducted by Chinese law enforcement and civil enforcement authorities over the past four years. Several business operators have been arrested and many have now been prosecuted and convicted in the Chinese courts.

The U.S. Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group consists of the world’s leading golf equipment manufacturers. Its members and brands include Acushnet Company - Titleist, FootJoy and Cobra Golf; Callaway Golf - Odyssey, Top-Flite and Ben Hogan; Cleveland Golf/Srixon; Nike Golf; PING; and TaylorMade-adidas Golf and Ashworth.

For more information, please contact Rob Duncanson at (949) 589-5931.

[golframfan]

good for them, But balls??? i didn't know you could buy counterfeit balls!

[D'KRUSHER]

good for them, But balls??? i didn't know you could buy counterfeit balls!

=============

Just guessing, but, maybe they took rebaged cheap blank balls, with the Titeist Prov1 writing.. etc..

[buttuh]

I think the fake balls are sold in and around south east asia. I don't think many, if any, end up here in the states.

[raidernut1234]

Not true, I bought a dozen "refurbished" prov1's at Target, they were some cheap two peace ball with the Titleist and Pro V1 screen printed on. The giveaway? arrow was not painted on the seam, and upon closer inspection, the font was different when compared to the original. Target figured it out though, i haven't seen them restocked in over 8 months.

[D'KRUSHER]

Also, About a year ago, two guys from Texas were caught selling fake golf clubs on the net, ebay. The trouble with the info, nobody tells ya " about 200 fakeTaylormade Drivers were sold in the last 6 months" etc.

So people get caught, and we don't know what to look for and how many fake items they'r out there !

[buttuh]

Refurbished balls are repainted with a new layer and restamped. This is not done by Titleist themselves so yeah it's going to look different. There's used balls, and there's refurbished balls. Not the same.

 

Not true, I bought a dozen "refurbished" prov1's at Target, they were some cheap two peace ball with the Titleist and Pro V1 screen printed on. The giveaway? arrow was not painted on the seam, and upon closer inspection, the font was different when compared to the original. Target figured it out though, i haven't seen them restocked in over 8 months.

[youraway2]

I read on another golf page about a big bust a year or so ago in South Carolinia. Reported as 4 Million in counterfiet merchandise. It was also covered on The Golf Channel. This scam (stealing actually) is very big in the US. Think about it! The MFR sets the MAP. That's the price authorized sellers are allowed to sell the product for. So Edwin Watts and others put $399 on a driver and you should notice all the others such as TGW, Golf Galaxay, etc, have the same price. Then the MFR may allow what they call a NET down, that is an authorized price reduction. Their actions in price controls is really price fixing. Now when you see a driver on FleaBay for half what authorized retailers are selling it for, then you should know immediatly that its a counterfiet club. If the seller has a ligit club and is marking it way down without direction from the MFR, they are in jepordary of lsoing their account with that MFR.

 

A few weeks ago I found a great deal on a set of Mizuno irons. I called Mizuno and they said the seller wasn't an authorized Mizuno seller. If if they are not an authorized seller, then how did they get all those great irons? Simple - counterfiet!

[alpha_tot]

3 warehouses probably isn't gonna do much compared to the amount at markets in Shanghai. And I bet the clubs make it out anyway. The club companies are never gonna stop counterfeiting in China as long as the Chinese govt doesn't care

[D'KRUSHER]

China does care- they are THE place where all the wealthy golf manufacturer's have the clubs made. They wouldn't want to upset their best clients.

 

Maybe these fakes are sold elswhere- in Asia, Honk Kong etc.. because I have yet to hear of any $400.00 driver "look alike fake" being sold lately in the USA.

But if you heard of a set Callaway X-Forged, new selling over the internet for $400.00, they are either stolen or Fakes....

If it sounds too good to be true, it is.....

Anybody have a fake club story- (not stolen) ?

[Pingdom]

Anybody have a fake club story- (not stolen) ?

 

Yeah, I have one. A club member brought in an old Big Bertha with a broken shaft, asking us to send it back to Callaway to be reshafted. We sent it in, and it was returned with a letter explaining that it was counterfeit.

 

We compared it to an authentic club of the same model, and only when they were side-by-side, was it readily apparent that one was fake.

 

Someone in the proshop reshafted the club for the guy (personally, I would have refused to do it) and owner of the fake Big Bertha asked if he could keep the letter that was sent from Callaway. He actually thought it was humorous that he had been fleeced by someone on eBay. Whatever. :rolleyes:

[Pingdom]

The U.S. Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group comprised of Acushnet Company (Titleist, FootJoy, Cobra), Callaway Golf, Cleveland/Srixon Golf, Nike Golf, PING and TaylorMade Golf Company reports that the Shanghai Changning District Court has convicted two principal violators (Shi-Feng and Shi-Chun-Ping) for selling counterfeit golf products. These convictions were the culmination of an enforcement action conducted after complaints were filed by the group with China's Public Security Bureau.

 

Many counterfeit golf clubs are sold, at very low prices, at shopping centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

 

The court determined that the defendants were guilty of an "attempted crime" based on the evidence that the inventory of counterfeit golf products was not ultimately sold only because their operation was raided. In addition, the court acknowledged that the defendants confessed, and expressed remorse for their actions. For these reasons, the court mitigated the punishment according to Chinese criminal law.

 

An official ceremony recently took in Shanghai whereby the counterfeit products seized in the raids were destroyed by the PSB. The Chinese court had valued the counterfeit golf equipment seized by the PSB at more than $880,000. A bulldozer crushed the illegal goods into useless scrap.

 

http://www.examiner.com/x-1024-Golf-Equipm...eiting-in-China

[specialblend218]

I see about 1-2 a month that are fake that come into our shop. I played with a customer a few months back that had a bag full of fakes. Burner 09 driver, Burner Hybrid, Callaway X-22 irons, vokey wedges, and the only thing that was legit was the Odyssey putter although he bought a Scotty Cameron for his playing partner and it was fake. He thought they were legit becuase the guy he got them from was a dock worker who had non allowed shipments to Australia, and they had to do something with the clubs so he sells them for cheap to his friends. I'd like to find the guy to report him.

 

It's very frustrating to tell someone they spent $350 on a set of Callaway X-22's that are fake.

[biscuity]

The fakes keep getting better and better. Be careful where you buy from.

 

http://www.dhgate.com/wholesale/balls/c243088.html

[potatofu]

Spent $150 on a fake Burner hybrid last year... what a stupid I am. Felt like going back to his store and smash the fake on his floor... but I have decided to donate the fake to one of the caddies instead (caddies are compulsory in this region)...

[specialblend218]

Spent $150 on a fake Burner hybrid last year... what a stupid I am. Felt like going back to his store and smash the fake on his floor... but I have decided to donate the fake to one of the caddies instead (caddies are compulsory in this region)...

 

 

Was the store selling the fake as real?

[Milo]

China does care- they are THE place where all the wealthy golf manufacturer's have the clubs made. They wouldn't want to upset their best clients.

 

Maybe these fakes are sold elswhere- in Asia, Honk Kong etc.. because I have yet to hear of any $400.00 driver "look alike fake" being sold lately in the USA.

But if you heard of a set Callaway X-Forged, new selling over the internet for $400.00, they are either stolen or Fakes....

If it sounds too good to be true, it is.....

Anybody have a fake club story- (not stolen) ?

 

China does not care. If they cared they would bust the factories down South rather than just a couple of storage warehouses used by middle-men in Shanghai. This is a token effort to appease the manufacturers' working group and everybody knows it.

 

The authorities are precisely aware of which factories are churning out fake gear and they also know which individuals have a financial interest in those activities. There's a lot of money in these fake sets and therefore the people in the shadows raking in the cash are well placed. PSB don't go round pissing off important people unless someone much more powerful tells them to do so and will back them up and none of the big dogs rock the boat unless they have something significant to gain.

 

Don't make the mistake of thinking that busting a couple of nobody wholesalers has anything to do with stopping fake gear flooding the market.

[D'KRUSHER]

Well, I guess I am hoping that the busts/enforcement will help. The Chinese have got to know that at some level of rip-off activity.. that the big guys like Nike can just go set up shop elsewhere, like S Korea.

But true- their could be " Inspector Payola" and "timely Busts " etc... which would suck.

 

From what I understand, China is a lil like the Wild West of Capitalism ! #1 Goal, Raise they GDP at least 10% per year, at ALL costs !

[Titileist x7]

While the golf industry is a large and profitable enterprise, I imagine that China has bigger issues to deal with. I'm sure that counterfeit clubs are just a blip on their radar.

[deepblue]

I live in China and I can tell you that there is a distinction between the shops that sell the real stuff and the shops that sell fakes. The shop selling fakes are generally patronized by foreigners. The Local Chinese who do play go would not go anywhere near shops that have dubious reputations. If a fairly well known retailer is suspected of selling fake clubs, you will find that most customers will give them a miss. Local Chinese have too much face value to be caught playing with fake clubs so a large percentage of fake clubs are destine for the overseas market.

[jaycajun]

Yes its great to get a good deal on a club on EBay, but then you run the risk of getting a fake (I did a few years back). And that is why I only buy clubs from Callawaygolfpreowned.com. I know that I get authentic clubs, usually at 50% or more off retail and they always look brand spanking new....

[87vert]

do fake clubs really play that "bad" or is it just a big ploy by the manufactures to get us to buy at their outrageous MSRP prices?