HP today announced results from the HP Anti-Counterfeiting and Fraud (ACF) Program to raise awareness on the severity of the fraudulent supplies market in South East Asia. The program aims to combat the production and distribution of counterfeit ink and toner printing supplies, and has seized counterfeit products worth USD$7.177 million in South East Asia in the last 15 months.
Globally, sales of all counterfeit goods reached USD$1.2 trillion in 2017 and is predicted to increase to USD$1.82 trillion by 2020.
Together with local law enforcement authorities, HP executed more than 17 raids and five arrests in affected South East Asian markets. Seizures from these raids consisted of items like finished and unfinished cartridges, packaging materials and various sets of labels.
Counterfeit printing supplies pose a serious threat to consumers and businesses alike. The use of counterfeit supplies can often result in printer damage, malfunctions, and is not covered by printer hardware warranties. More importantly, it can result in lost revenue and unnecessary downtime for business.
HP regularly conducts checks and raids to reduce counterfeits in the supply chain, and protect customers and businesses that work with HP. This process decreases the likelihood of customers and partners unintentionally purchasing counterfeit ink and toner, hence slowing down these supplies from reaching the marketplace.
Aside from enforcements and raids, large and medium-sized businesses that are HP customers can request a Customer Delivery Inspection (CDI), a unique protection service if they suspect that counterfeit products are included in their delivery. HP also proactively protects channel partners and customers from unauthorized printing supplies through the Channel Partner Protection Audits (CPPA), an audit for HP’s partners. Partners who pass the CPPA can communicate this to their customers. This in turn, gives partners and customers the peace of mind that their ink and toner print supplies are 100 percent genuine.
Through the ACF program, HP aims to protect businesses from the problems that can result from counterfeit supplies. Some simple guidelines companies can follow to help ensure the purchase of Original HP Supplies with confidence are as follows:
- Be wary of dubious sales methods such as bulk sales on online auction sites and dramatically reduced prices
- Buy only from authorized HP sales partners to avoid falling victim to counterfeiting
- Explicitly ask for Original HP products when purchasing or tendering
For more information on how to recognize an Original HP Ink or Toner, report a fake or prevent further fraud, please visit here.
