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Operating at UK ports and airports Border Force help protect the UK economy and public from the illegal trade in counterfeit goods. In the last few months alone officers have seized tens of thousands of goods, including fake designer clothing and luggage, footwear, watches, sports goods, toys and electronic goods.

Border Force and Trading Standards are warning festive shoppers to be careful about what they buy and where they buy it from to avoid fuelling the illegal trade.

Fake christmas

Home Office minister Mark Harper said: 鈥楥heap counterfeits undercut honest traders leaving shoppers with goods that are at best inferior and, at worst, harmful or unsafe. They are a serious threat to the British economy in terms of lost profits and tax revenues.

鈥楤order Force officers operate at ports, airports and mail sorting centres to intercept counterfeit goods to protect British consumers and business.

鈥楾he public can play their part in disrupting the trade by ensuring they only buy from genuine retailers.鈥�

Border Force

In recent weeks Border Force operations at Felixstowe, which handles around 40 per cent of the UK鈥檚 container trade, have stopped more than 拢5 million worth of goods preventing goods reaching towns and cities across the UK.

Kevin Sayer, from Border Force at the Port of Felixstowe, said: 鈥榃e are uncovering all sorts of fake goods, from beauty products to children鈥檚 toys, and we鈥檙e warning people to be particularly wary of buying cheap items online or from unofficial traders.聽

鈥業t鈥檚 easy to be tricked into thinking you鈥檙e getting a bargain, but in the run-up to Christmas our message is that if something appears too good to be true it probably is.鈥�