TORONTO -- Hockey's finest come to Toronto this week for the
50th NHL All Star Game. So do criminals seeking to sell counterfeit
sports memorabilia and fake autographs, the NHL and police warned
Tuesday.
Mary Sotis, vice president of legal affairs for NHL Enterprises,
said consumers should watch out for cheap imitations of NHL replica
jerseys and souvenir T-shirts during the weekend of All Star
festivities that culminate with Sunday's game at the Air Canada
Center.
The NHL licenses authentic goods that bear trademarked logos and
joins other sports leagues in the Coalition to Advance the
Protection of Sports Logos, known as CAPS, to combat counterfeiters.
Sotis said sales of counterfeit products are believed to exceed
$200 billion a year, and that CAPS in recent years has helped
police seize merchandise and manufacturing equipment worth $130
million.
She said criminal networks use printing plants to manufacture
the lower quality goods, and some even put on stamps and tags
intended to fool buyers into thinking the articles are authentic.
"It's a year-round daily battle," she said of trying to detect
counterfeit goods, especially during the high-profile periods such
as the Stanley Cup playoffs and All Star weekend. "Counterfeiters
go where excitement is high."
An NHL All Star Game in a Canadian city generates a lot of
excitement. The annual All Star weekend events, such as the NHL
skills competition and an old-timers game, expect capacity crowds,
with people even getting tickets for All Star practices.
Licensed NHL products run from T-shirts that cost $7 to
sweatshirts and polar fleeces in the $35-$40 range and authentic NHL
jerseys worn by league players that cost $135, according to NHL
Enterprises.
Counterfeit items run much cheaper, and Sotis offered the caveat
to customers: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
The NHL obtained a court order in Ontario allowing it to seize
any counterfeit material it finds, Sotis said. Detecting the
counterfeits is difficult, she said, and consumers should make sure
the goods they buy have proper NHL approved labels and the special
hologram that verifies authenticity.
"These counterfeiters are pretty sophisticated, but the
hologram is pretty hard to duplicate so they don't usually have
it," Sotis said.
Another form of fraud involves phony autographs on photos of
players that are sold on Internet auction sites, said Det. Steve
Burnham of the 52nd division's fraud squad.
He said Darren Turcotte of the Nashville Predators first noted
the forged signatures on an eBay Internet auction site and filed a
formal complaint. Fake signatures for Cliff Ronning of Nashville
and Tony Granato of San Jose also have been cited, Burnham said.