WATCH: Faking it in the North

MFR News has been given exclusive access to the secure court evidence lock-up for counterfeit goods in the North.

Highland Council's Trading Standards are getting around 100-tip-offs about fake products every year.

Over the past two its officers have carried out 84-investigations into alleged cheap and sometimes dangerous knock-off merchandise.

A recent case saw £100,000-worth, or several hundred bogus items seized.

And in another case 1,000-counterfeit DVDs were confiscated in a joint operation between Police Scotland and Highland Council's Trading Standards.

After criminal trials come to an end, the sezures which have been kept locked in a secure facility in the North are then destroyed.

Trading Standards Team Leader David MacKenzie told MFR News: "We regularly receive consumer complaints from residents in the Highlands who unwittingly buy counterfeit and mis-described goods.

"Consumers are entitled to expect that the goods they buy are of the quality associated with the named brand. They should not receive shoddy copies."

And it is not just the individual buyers who are losing out through the sale of fakes.

A recent study found that £390million is lost to the legitimate trade across Europe every year as a result of fake sports equipment alone (i.e. excluding sports clothing), such as footballs, sports helmets, tennis rackets, gym equipment, skateboards, and golf clubs.

This is estimated to cause the loss of 2,800 jobs per year, resulting in losses of £115 million in Government tax revenues.

In the UK alone, the manufacture of counterfeit sports equipment costs the sector £39million a year.

Highland Council Trading Standards have been very active lately in combatting the supply of fake goods in the Highlands.

A number of significant investigations have been carried out into the supply of a wide range of products including clothing, luxury goods, jewellery, footwear, electrical goods, jewellery, alcohol and tobacco.

These items are sold in a wide variety of ways, through websites, social media networks and in workplaces. The investigations have resulted in successful prosecutions and several other formal outcomes.

On the Highland Council website there is an online form which members of the public can use to pass on information about fake goods.

David MacKenzie explained: "The online form is simple and easy to use. You can provide as much or as little information as you like, remain anonymous or give us your details.

"Any relevant information is of interest to us, however basic it may seem."

ABOVE: Click on the video above to watch MFR News reporter Bryan Rutheford's report...

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