One in eight Australians getting swindled by Chinese manufacturers claiming to sell luxury goods on social media
As many as one in eight Australians have bought counterfeit designer goods from China, new research from Finder has revealed.
The data comes as a social media trend has surged on TikTok, where Chinese manufacturers have been using the platform to advertise their products to Aussie consumers.
The manufacturers claim to sell items belonging to luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Lululemon direct from the factory at much lower price than retail.
In Finder's survey of 1005 respondents, 12 per cent admitted to buying counterfeit goods from manufacturers in China such as DHgate and Alibaba - making it an estimated 2.6 million Aussies purchasing these items which range from activewear to luxury handbags among other products.
The majority (73 per cent) said they had not and were not considering it, while the other 16 per cent said they had not, but were considering purchasing the knock-off items.
Research also found women (15 per cent) were almost twice as likely to have purchased counterfeit designer goods directly from China than men (eight per cent).
Chinese manufacturers' move to market cheaper versions of designer goods has come off the back of United States President Donald Trump's decision to impose sweeping taxes on foreign products.
Personal finance expert at Finder, Sarah Megginson, said social media users were attracted to the bargain offers which had gone viral.
'Chinese manufacturers claim to be giving consumers the inside scoop on where luxury brands are really made,' she said.
'These Chinese e-commerce sites are trying to convince consumers to buy direct at lower prices."
Ms Megginson warned if an offer looks "too good to be true" that "it usually is".
'What might seem like a savvy shopping hack could end up costing consumers more if the goods don't turn up," she said.
'The rise of counterfeit culture on social media is putting Aussies at financial risk — with many losing money to parcels that never arrive or dodgy sellers that disappear overnight.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
34 minutes ago
- West Australian
How Xi's giant iron ore trader is shaking up a $200 billion market
Just three years after its founding, a Chinese government-run trader has become the single biggest force in the country's $200 billion market for iron ore imports. The rise of China Mineral Resources Group has allowed it to tame one of the world's wildest commodities markets — sending volatility in iron ore futures to a record low. It's also playing a role in negotiations with global mining companies, potentially shifting the balance of power between China's vast steel industry and major suppliers like Rio Tinto and BHP. CMRG is transforming a market that has been a thorn in the side of Chinese leaders for 15 years. Now its clout is such that its stockpiles have become akin to a national reserve, to be released when steelmakers are struggling or built up when prices are cheap, according to people familiar with its activities. 'The existence of CMRG is primarily aimed at fundamentally solving the problem of excessive dependence on iron ore imports,' said Bancy Bai, a ferrous metals analyst at consultancy Horizon Insights. 'It has established iron ore inventories in over a dozen major domestic ports.' Chinese authorities have long tried to smooth market fluctuations in markets ranging from local stocks and the yuan to key commodities, but iron ore has been an especially tricky market to manage. As the main raw material for China's one-billion-tonne steel industry, price spikes risk fuelling inflation in Asia's biggest economy. Ever since 2010 — when a system of annually negotiated contracts was ditched in favour of floating spot rates — Chinese officials and steel-mill executives have bemoaned the pricing power of iron ore majors like Rio, BHP and Brazil's Vale. During a COVID-era price surge in 2021, for example, the market became a key target for intervention as officials raised trading costs, censored industry research, urged inventory sales, and cajoled traders to halt 'malicious' speculation. President Xi Jinping's government created CMRG in 2022 with a mission to reshape China's relationship with its iron ore suppliers, taking on an intermediary role rather than leave China's fragmented steel industry at the mercy of miners and traders. CMRG is now the biggest trader of the commodity after elbowing out other players, according to market participants. It also represents more than half of China's steelmakers in talks with suppliers such as Rio Tinto and BHP, they said. Price action has been unusually placid in the past six months. While China's slowing economy and the downtrend in steel demand are a major reason, observers say CMRG has also played a role. 'A shift in marginal bargaining power from miners to mills was inevitable once peak steel passed in China,' said Joel Parsons, a Singapore-based portfolio manager at Drakewood Prospect Fund. 'The interesting question is to what extent CMRG may be accelerating the process.' Iron ore is bought and sold in different ways: on the spot market for individual, up-front shipments, or via longer-term term contracts linked to daily reference prices. After a halting start, CMRG has pushed into the spot market and had over 40 cargoes on the water as of June 19, according to an offer sheet reviewed by Bloomberg. Those included products from BHP and Rio. Vale has been absent. The Brazilian company hasn't struck spot deals with CMRG because it believes long-term contracts with Chinese mills are sufficient, said a person familiar with the matter. So far, none of the big miners currently supplies CMRG in term contracts. Talks on doing so were continuing, Simon Trott, Rio's chief executive of iron ore, said recently. CMRG, Rio, BHP and Vale all declined to comment. One advantage is that CMRG has more tolerance for losses because it's state-run, and as its presence has grown, more established trading houses have retreated, according to people familiar with the matter. The group has helped 'keep prices at the level they should be with supply and demand, rather than having those short term spikes,' Aurelia Waltham, analyst at Goldman Sachs, told a conference in Singapore last month. In an earlier note, the bank said CMRG could be holding as much as 20 million tonnes of ore at ports, based on conversations with steel mills. For those mills, getting on board with CMRG as a reliable, steady supplier is a no-brainer. But for miners, the consolidation is likely to weaken their bargaining power, setting the stage for a tussle over pricing for a long time to come. 'The unique structure of the iron ore market, with its concentrated supply from very low-cost producers and the specific quality demands, means that CMRG's leverage, while enhanced, will not be absolute,' said David Cachot, iron ore research director at Wood Mackenzie. Bloomberg
Sky News AU
43 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Mystery Boeing 747 flights leaving China for Iran raise questions amid Israel conflict
Several Boeing 747s have been spotted on radar leaving China for Iran over the last week, according to reports, sparking concerns that the CCP is helping the Middle Eastern nation transport cargo or people out of the country as Israel continues to strike the country's nuclear facilities. Starting on June 14th, FlightRadar24 shows that at least five flights traveled from China to Iran, and The Telegraph reported that the "mystery transport planes" had flown westward along northern China before crossing into Kazakhstan, south through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and then fell off radar as they approached Iran. Additionally, the report indicated that the flights had a final destination of Luxembourg but don't appear to have ever crossed into European airspace. Some experts have speculated that these types of planes are typically used for transport and could be evidence of China aiding its longtime ally Iran during the conflict with Israel, although Fox News Digital has not independently confirmed the nature of the flights. "I think it's important to remember what the relationship is, forty-three percent of China's oil and gas comes from the Middle East, a large volume of that from Iran," Robert Greenway, director of the Heritage Foundation's Center for National Defense, told "The Ingraham Angle" on Wednesday night. "It likes to buy sanctioned oil below market value, and that fuels the Chinese economy and also its military ambitions, and so, that's the central relationship. They've been relatively quiet – in fact, extremely quiet – about the current conflict and coming to Iran's assistance. We also know that a large fire in Bandar-Abbas port was Chinese solid propellant for missiles that exploded and created a tremendous amount of damage just about a month ago. I think it's unlikely to see Chinese arms shipments under the circumstances to Iran. It's more likely that Iran may be removing material or personnel or regime valuables to safe haven in light of the conflict. I think that's probably the extent to which China is willing to accept the risk associated with the current circumstances." In 2021, Fox News Digital reported that Tehran and Beijing signed a 25-year cooperation deal amidst great fanfare in the Iranian capital. University of Tehran Professor Mohammad Marandi, who is close to the regime, told Fox News that it is about much more than what's on paper. "This strategic partnership is important because it allows Iran and China to build a roadmap for long-term relations that will be much more fruitful," he said. "It's also a signal being sent to the United States. The more the U.S. tries to isolate Iran and China, the more it causes countries like Iran and China to move more closely to each other." Some have cast doubt on the flights representing a nefarious connection between the two nations, including Atlantic Council fellow Tuvia Gering who posted on X that an aviation expert told him the flights are "nothing to write home about." "There are regular cargo flights by the Luxembourg-based freight company from several locations in China to Europe, with a stopover in Turkmenistan (just a few dozen kilometers from the Iranian border)," Gering wrote. "Some flight tracking websites lose the tracking signal shortly before landing and continue to show a projected route that appears to enter Iranian airspace. The sites clearly indicate that this is an estimated path; checking the aircraft tail numbers shows they take off again from Turkmenistan a few hours later, and reviewing the flight history of these routes shows they always land in Ashgabat and do not continue into Iran. All this is before even considering the obvious logic that a major European cargo company is highly unlikely to be the channel through which China transfers its super-advanced, top-secret strategic weapons to Iran." Tensions between Iran and Israel have escalated significantly in recent days, with the United States contemplating whether it will get directly involved in striking Iran. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and he is expected to meet with national security and defense leaders again on Thursday. "Yes, I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you this that Iran's got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate," Trump said Wednesday. "And I said, why didn't you negotiate with me before all this death and destruction? Why didn't you go? I said to people, why didn't you negotiate with me two weeks ago? You could have done fine. You would have had a country. It's very sad to watch this," the president added. Originally published as Mystery Boeing 747 flights leaving China for Iran raise questions amid Israel conflict
Sky News AU
43 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Trump signs executive order to extend TikTok ban deadline for third time
TikTok will receive another 90-day reprieve after Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday. The US President granted the platform a third extension to allow more time to strike a deal with its Chinese owner, ByteDance. The White House says it is seeking to ensure an agreement is made so the app's users can be assured their data is secure.
