If you're a beauty junkie like me, you might want to watch where you buy your products. A massive counterfeit beauty and health supply ring was recently busted. New York brothers Pardeep Malik and Hamant Mullick were arrested and accused of running the illegal enterprise. Apparently they were selling knockoffs of tons of beauty items, including ChapStick, Johnson's Baby Oil, Vaseline, Always pads and even Vicks VapoRub. Who knew you could make a fake Vaporú? The scary thing is these counterfeit products were even sold to retailers, meaning you might have purchased them yourself and there might be health risks involved. iDios mío!
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According to reports, the multimillion-dollar counterfeit ring was distributing products throughout the East Coast, including to some retailers in New York, Pennsylvania and Florida. Both Malik and Mullick have been charged with felony trademarks counterfeiting and are each being held on $100,000 bond.
If you think buying counterfeit beauty products is no big deal you might want to think again. Counterfeit beauty products might come cheaper, but they also come with a big cost. Because they're usually manufactured outside of the states they don't follow U.S. safety regulations, meaning they can be contaminated with toxic chemicals that can be extremely hazardous to your health. Plus, beauty products weren't the only products found in this operation. Officials were also able to recover over-the-counter cold medicines and painkillers too. Yikes!
So how can you make sure you're not buying counterfeit products? For starters, make sure you're only buying your beauty products and over-the-counter medications from reputable stores. Avoid purchasing anything from trading websites like eBay (as much as I love it), sites you've never heard of before, or from sellers on the streets. Also, if you notice a product is being sold for WAY less than its market value, that's usually a sign its fake too.
When I first heard about this counterfeit scandal I instantly brushed it off, assuming it didn't apply to me. That is, until I realized that I do occasionally buy beauty products from trading sites when I'm looking for a cheap buy. Now I know to be more cautious. I love me some affordable beauty products, but they're definitely not worth my health!
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