\u2018I had a bad day\u2019: Conroe judge releases statement after DWI arrest<\/a><\/p>\nPelayo says she takes those steps to avoid counterfeit products, sometimes referred to as \u201cdupes,\u201d a nickname commonly used for duplicate or imitation items.<\/p>\n
For those who work in retail and enforcement, the terminology doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cDupes, counterfeits, fakes \u2014 whatever you want to call it \u2014 it\u2019s a very big problem,\u201d said Candice Uzoigwe with the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition.<\/p>\n
A growing issue in Houston<\/p>\n
In November, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that the Houston-Galveston Seaport seized counterfeit goods with a manufacturer\u2019s suggested retail value of more than $187 million during fiscal year 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was active at HPD, Houston was number three in the country as far as counterfeit goods,\u201d said retired Houston Police Captain Ron Borza.<\/p>\n
Borza spent years leading a unit focused on counterfeit crimes involving fake watches, jewelry, perfume, and athletic shoes. He says counterfeit merchandise is increasingly being sold online through third-party sellers operating under the umbrella of well-known retailers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCounterfeiters make a lot of money fooling people into buying their products,\u201d Uzoigwe said.<\/p>\n
Both Uzoigwe and Borza acknowledge that with the sheer volume of products and sellers on large e-commerce platforms, counterfeit items can sometimes slip through.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes that happens, and that is a problem a lot of e-commerce companies face,\u201d Uzoigwe said.<\/p>\n
Third-party listings raise concerns<\/p>\n
2 Investigates reviewed listings on Walmart.com and found several Le Labo fragrance products sold by third-party sellers. At first glance, the listings appear similar to items sold directly by Walmart, making it difficult for consumers to distinguish who is actually selling the product.<\/p>\n
Le Labo, a high-end fragrance brand, primarily sells through its own brick-and-mortar stores, its official website, and select authorized partners. Employees with the brand told 2 Investigates that Le Labo is not a direct partner with Walmart.<\/p>\n
A closer look at customer reviews on Walmart\u2019s site revealed at least one consumer claiming, \u201cThe seller is selling fake perfume and Walmart should ban the seller.\u201d<\/p>\n
We shared those listings and consumer complaints with Walmart and asked for the company\u2019s response.<\/p>\n
In a statement, a Walmart spokesperson said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWalmart operates an online marketplace that allows third-party sellers to offer a wide range of products, including premium fragrances. We have zero tolerance for counterfeit products or bad actors on our platform, and we require all sellers to offer only authentic, lawful merchandise.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company added:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take the information you shared seriously, and our teams are reviewing with urgency. If we confirm any violation of our policies, we will immediately remove the items and take decisive action against the sellers involved. Protecting our customers and maintaining a secure, trustworthy platform for brands is our top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calls for clearer labeling<\/p>\n
Pelayo believes retailers should do more to clearly inform customers when a product is being sold by a third party rather than directly by the retailer or the brand itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they should definitely have a label or a warning that it\u2019s coming from a third party and not directly from their store,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
One retail associate told 2 Investigates they see at least two cases each week of customers bringing in counterfeit items purchased online, believing the products were authentic. The associate added that reports of counterfeit purchases often spike after Christmas.<\/p>\n
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Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Professional makeup artist Lisa Pelayo knows beauty. With more than 15 years of experience working with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[24982,18428,18427,1972,56,58,57,5778,66,223,808],"class_list":["post-98450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-2-investigates","tag-christmas-shopping","tag-holiday-shopping","tag-holidays","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-investigates","tag-local","tag-news","tag-shopping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}