If you’re traveling to Europe wearing fake designer you may face a hefty fine and a few years in prison. At least, that’s what this TikToker warns in a viral clip.
In her video, Jen Gomez (@jenjengomez2.0) claims that an attorney told her that luxury brands, especially in France and Italy, have hired “luxury security” for airports and in the streets to identify travelers carrying counterfeit luxury goods like luggage and handbags and report them to customs. But is there any evidence that Gomez’s claims are true?
Are airports littered with undercover “luxury security”?
She claims that they’ll stop you and you have to find a way to prove your item is legit. If you can’t prove your item’s legitimacy, you can face a fine up to €300,000 fine and up to three years in prison, she says.
“What kind of credentials does this person that’s in the airport security field have to say that this is a real or counterfeit bag?” Gomez asks, incredulous.
She adds that even if your bag is real, it’ll take time to prove it, and that’s made more difficult if you don’t speak the language of the country you’re in.
“You don’t even want to go to jail or be in the legal system in a foreign country. You just don’t,” Gomez says.
“…You’re gonna have to go through all that to prove it’s real and then you’ve lost a lot of time, money, and you’re probably scared [expletive].”
She says that if it’s a fake, you risk going to jail, and Gomez, who was imprisoned for ten years, said that’s not something she recommends—especially in a foreign country.
“Do you really want to be worried about somebody in plain clothing looking like a civilian that’s actually eyeballing your bag?” she questions viewers.
Fact or fiction?
Considered the fashion capital of the world, France takes its products very seriously. It was the first country in the European Union to classify imported counterfeit goods as illegal, Dreyfus, a French intellectual property firm, reported.
Despite how seriously France takes fashion, it appears Gomez’s claims are untrue, or at least unverifiable. The Daily Dot didn’t find any credible sources discussing the seizure of counterfeit goods at the airport.
And even if this did happen, it wouldn’t be private security taking the items, it would be in-uniform customs officers. While customs officers do not have the expertise to determine if an item is legit or not, they do have the responsibility to identify products that may be counterfeit.
When customs does seize these goods, it seems to rarely be off of tourists at the airport. Instead, they’ve been reported to hit whole operations, taking down various sellers at once.
France’s crackdown on counterfeit luxury goods
Customs seizures of counterfeit goods in France have increased significantly since 2022, according to customs data obtained by Reuters. Up until 2021, French authorities seized up to 9.2 million counterfeit goods. That number went up to 11.5 million in 2022 and 20.5 million in 2023.
A French police chief said this surge in knockoff crackdowns is directly linked to the influx of people expected for this summer’s Olympic games in Paris. The city’s tourism board expects about 11.3 million visitors during the Olympics weeks, Fortune reported.
It’s safe to say that people will want to go shopping, and while some will hit up Paris’ luxury market, others will look to counterfeiters for good fakes.
“Paris doesn’t want to be known as the counterfeit capital of Europe,” said intellectual property lawyer John Coldham, a partner at Gowling WLG in London told Reuters.
Fake designer clothes are estimated to have cost France about $1.83 billion in lost sales between 2018 and 2021, and that’s not even taking into consideration other big-ticket and highly coveted items like handbags.
@jenjengomez2.0 TRAVEL SAFELY. Carrying a luxury bag could put you in prison overseas! Here’s how.. #travel #traveltiktok #traveltoeurope #travelsafety #airportsecurity #cakebag #luxurybag #luxurybags #airportsafety @Shannon Schott ♬ original sound – Jen Jen Gomez
LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury conglomerate (owning brands like Dior, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany & Co) is among the sponsors for this year’s Olympics. While they did not respond to Reuters request for comment on anti-counterfeit measures, the luxury giant has stated it is working with authorities to enforce the brands’ intellectual property rights.
LVMH also stated that it is not expecting a big revenue bump in Paris from the international sporting event.
The Daily Dot reached out to Jen and LVMH for comment via email.
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