scraw28 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Bogus Super Bowl Merch Raid Police: Fake Super Bowl Merchandise Sold At Flea MarketTBO.comAuthorities said Wednesday that counterfeit Super Bowl merchandise with a retail value of more than $1.2 million was being sold from a north Tampa flea market. Junior Raphael Prentice, 38, 4021 E. Idlewild Ave., is accused of selling the fake merchandise at the International Flea Market. He was being held Wednesday night on $2,000 bail at Orient Road Jail. Tampa police, Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and National Football League security are participating in the investigation. Police and federal agents said at least two dozen boxes of merchandise were found, including jerseys and hats from various NFL teams. Investigators said Prentice rents two stalls at the flea market, 11309 N. Nebraska Ave. They were seeking a warrant to search his other stall, Fitted Up, which was closed. Freddy Chow, a special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said investigators noticed the merchandise wasn't up to par. On one jersey, the name of Hall of Famer Reggie White was printed upside down. "We noticed some misspelling of words and different shades of team colors," Chow said. He said official merchandise should have an NFL hologram and a serial number on the hang tag. Detectives completed an inventory of the bogus merchandise Wednesday night. Among the counterfeit items are: *488 NFL jerseys, 129 NBA jerseys, 95 Major League Baseball jerseys and 32 NHL jerseys. *819 Nike shoes. *592 handbags with designer labels. *348 wallets with designer labels. *175 watches with designer labels. *Sunglasses and miscellaneous jewelry. The total retail value of the counterfeit merchandise is $1,227,540. Police also seized a box truck Wednesday that contained more counterfeit items and an inventory will be made this morning, Tampa police Lt. William Ferguson said in a written statement. Eric Carter, 36, of Tampa said he bought three pairs of Nike Air Jordans from Prentice two weeks ago for $55 each. Today, he came back to the International Flea Market to return the shoes, only to find swarms of law enforcement there. He wanted to return the shoes because their glue and material were coming undone, he said. Carter said authorities should crack down on counterfeit goods. "You kind of want the deal, but this time it wasn't a deal because it wasn't authentic." The street value of counterfeit merchandise identified in the U.S. in 2007 was about $250 billion, said Ralph Frasca, the chief executive officer of Grand ISS, a risk management firm that consults with Fortune 500 companies. Prentice's arrest was "not surprising at all," Frasca said. "It happens all the time." Frasca said 98 percent of bogus merchandise is made in China then shipped to the United Arab Emirates for global distribution. The items are imported in Los Angeles or hauled by truck from Mexico, Frasca said. Counterfeit shirts and football jerseys are sold between $2.50 and $4 wholesale and merchants then sell them for at least $30, he said. "It's not a victimless crime," Frasca said. "You're feeding organized crime like the Chinese Triad and supporting child labor." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackjack76 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 This is always good to hear. You know who is really, really good on cracking down on bogus merchandise...the Collegiate Licensing Company. Every bowl season they send out a number of executives and security personnel, and every bowl season they round up millions of dollars in unlicensed caps, t-shirts and collectibles.As a former licensee, we paid a bundle just for the right to use team logos and players' images, and then we had to pay a royalty to the leagues and unions on every piece of merchandise sold. When these scumbags sell knock-offs and eat into licensees' potential revenues, it devalues and destroys the system.Again, this is great to hear. I know for a fact that all of the major sports leagues and adding more quality control and security measures to protect against people downloading vector logos and making unlicensed goods to the benefit of all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DGivens87 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 "It's not a victimless crime," Frasca said. "You're feeding organized crime like the Chinese Triad and supporting child labor."Yeah, because Nike and other apparel companies that sell legit merch NEVER use child labor. A large cheese pizza, just for me.New England's source for soccer newsAnd hey, I made it to ESPN! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tajmccall Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Rooting for huge companies in this economy? Do you have a poster of Senator Palpatine in your room? Store 1 Store 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieRose Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 This is all I can think of when I hear about fake merch..."T-Shirts! Get your crappy, misspelled t-shirts!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JQK Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Rooting for huge companies in this economy? Do you have a poster of Senator Palpatine in your room?Hey, if want the blue colored "Nameith" throwback Jets jersey, by all means buy the fake s**t...If you know what to look for (and most of us uniform nuts can spot reals from fakes), you can find great deals on jerseys on ebay or even around at sporting goods stores (if you're willing to haggle and bitch.) Stay Tuned Sports Podcast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc49erfan15 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Rooting for huge companies in this economy? Do you have a poster of Senator Palpatine in your room?Hey, if want the blue colored "Nameith" throwback Jets jersey, by all means buy the fake s**t...If you know what to look for (and most of us uniform nuts can spot reals from fakes), you can find great deals on jerseys on ebay or even around at sporting goods stores (if you're willing to haggle and bitch.)Point, JQK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JToad Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Rooting for huge companies in this economy? Do you have a poster of Senator Palpatine in your room?Hey, if want the blue colored "Nameith" throwback Jets jersey, by all means buy the fake s**t...If you know what to look for (and most of us uniform nuts can spot reals from fakes), you can find great deals on jerseys on ebay or even around at sporting goods stores (if you're willing to haggle and bitch.)Just don't come into my store and bitch and try and haggle lol j/kSeriously, the counterfeit biz has completely killed the jersey market. Unfourtunately, the general public is either uninformed, or don't care about authenticity. They just assume we are overpriced, because they know some guy who can get them that "Ben Rosenberg" stiched Steelers jersey for half price. I constantly feel the need to defend my stores product, it's really sad actually. And so help me god, if I hear one more person refer to him as Rosenberg, Roethlisberg or something other than Roethlisberger, I am going to shoot myself. Sorry, thanks for letting me vent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raysox Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 This is all I can think of when I hear about fake merch..."T-Shirts! Get your crappy, misspelled t-shirts!" ahahahhahaI've actually been to this flea market. @MichaelDanger19 | Dribbble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Police: Fake Super Bowl Merchandise Sold At Flea MarketI'm almost certain this headline falls under "The Sky Is Blue/Bonds Used Steroids" category. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackjack76 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Police: Fake Super Bowl Merchandise Sold At Flea MarketI'm almost certain this headline falls under "The Sky Is Blue/Bonds Used Steroids" category.Great point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scraw28 Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 I would rather pay $300 for a real throwback jersey with the real specifications than $70 for a fraud throwback with the wrong lettering stiching and fabric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4DOOR Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I would rather pay $300 for a real throwback jersey with the real specifications than $70 for a fraud throwback with the wrong lettering stiching and fabricWhat's the difference between some hack selling fake merchandise and Creamer taking in money fordisplaying logos through "donations" and ads. Has he sent any money to the rights owners or designers?Tell me the difference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapshot Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I would rather pay $300 for a real throwback jersey with the real specifications than $70 for a fraud throwback with the wrong lettering stiching and fabricWhat's the difference between some hack selling fake merchandise and Creamer taking in money fordisplaying logos through "donations" and ads. Has he sent any money to the rights owners or designers?Tell me the difference!Chris Creamer isn't making any money off the logos. He is only paying for the web host fees to display them, not making a profit from them. The logos and uniforms displayed are for documentational purpose only, like an online library. Back-to-Back Fatal Forty Champion 2015 & 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sec19Row53 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 [What's the difference between some hack selling fake merchandise and Creamer taking in money fordisplaying logos through "donations" and ads. Has he sent any money to the rights owners or designers?Tell me the difference!Incredible that you've seemingly been here since December 2003 and don't know the difference. It's where I sit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DG_ThenNowForever Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 [What's the difference between some hack selling fake merchandise and Creamer taking in money fordisplaying logos through "donations" and ads. Has he sent any money to the rights owners or designers?Tell me the difference!Incredible that you've seemingly been here since December 2003 and don't know the difference.No kidding. What a dumb question. What's the point of any web site anywhere? On topic, authentic jerseys are too expensive, and replica jerseys aren't nice enough to be worth the $75 the NFL charges. The NFL isn't going to get the people who buy $50 "authentic" jerseys. That market has opted out. While I don't know the cost of an authentic jersey, the NFL has chosen a premium market with a premium price. They've determined 10,000 $300 jerseys is a better value than 100,000 $50 jerseys. Those numbers are pure speculation on my part, but you get the point, right? The counterfeiters are stepping in to support a market that isn't being served by the NFL or legit retailers. It sure is complicated. 1 hour ago, ShutUpLutz! said: and the drunken doodoobags jumping off the tops of SUV's/vans/RV's onto tables because, oh yeah, they are drunken drug abusing doodoobags Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElwoodCuse Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 The NFL is a huge ripoff when it comes to jerseys, for sure. Remember when the replicas WERE $40-$50 tops?Then Reebok replaced Nike/Adidas/Starter/Champion/Puma and they've been jacking up prices and lowering quality ever since.Same thing Reebok did with hockey. Took a $75 item, tops, lowered the quality (screen printing ahoy!) and BOOM $105.Still though, f counterfeiters and the people that are either too ignorant or too cheap to hate them too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc49erfan15 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 [What's the difference between some hack selling fake merchandise and Creamer taking in money fordisplaying logos through "donations" and ads. Has he sent any money to the rights owners or designers?Tell me the difference!Incredible that you've seemingly been here since December 2003 and don't know the difference.No kidding. What a dumb question. What's the point of any web site anywhere? On topic, authentic jerseys are too expensive, and replica jerseys aren't nice enough to be worth the $75 the NFL charges. The NFL isn't going to get the people who buy $50 "authentic" jerseys. That market has opted out. While I don't know the cost of an authentic jersey, the NFL has chosen a premium market with a premium price. They've determined 10,000 $300 jerseys is a better value than 100,000 $50 jerseys. Those numbers are pure speculation on my part, but you get the point, right? The counterfeiters are stepping in to support a market that isn't being served by the NFL or legit retailers. It sure is complicated.I completely agree. I have plenty of friends who are content with buying $50 "authentic" jerseys, knowing they're knockoffs. I used to be the same way - got fakes of T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Mario Williams hanging on my jersey rack as we speak. Your average fan isn't going to know the difference anyway - and most won't care. However, I'm much more content with paying a little more (deals can be found on Ebay for legit authentics under $100) and knowing I'm getting the real thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DG_ThenNowForever Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 I completely agree. I have plenty of friends who are content with buying $50 "authentic" jerseys, knowing they're knockoffs. I used to be the same way - got fakes of T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Mario Williams hanging on my jersey rack as we speak. Your average fan isn't going to know the difference anyway - and most won't care. However, I'm much more content with paying a little more (deals can be found on Ebay for legit authentics under $100) and knowing I'm getting the real thing.That reminds me of a jersey I bought for my older brother a couple of Christmases ago. It's a fake Marshawn Lynch jersey, but a really good fake. The material feels nice, patches and numbers are sewn on, and except for an "L," the lettering looks good.My brother likes the Bills, but doesn't obsess nearly over the minutiae of uniforms as others do. He was happy with the jersey and I was happy with the price. Do I go to hell now? 1 hour ago, ShutUpLutz! said: and the drunken doodoobags jumping off the tops of SUV's/vans/RV's onto tables because, oh yeah, they are drunken drug abusing doodoobags Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 they know some guy who can get them that "Ben Rosenberg" stiched Steelers jersey for half price.Ben Rosenberg and Rex Grossman, the NFL's best two fictitious Jewish quarterbacks. Rex isn't really Jewish. Also not really a quarterback. ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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