Criminals remain a step ahead of authorities
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The Ministry of Public Security issues stamps for sticking on original products as a measure against counterfeits, but this very stamp is now being faked and sold in Ho Chi Minh City for as low as a cent.
Tuoi Tre carried out an investigation and, claiming to be sellers of smuggled cell phones that require these stamps, met Linh who introduced herself as a director of a company based in Tan Binh District.
Linh accepted our order because we were introduced to her by a “colleague.”
“This deal is very risky and dangerous,” she said.
We insisted that the stamps must have the words “Bo Cong An – Tem chong hang gia” (Ministry of Public Security – Anti-counterfeit Stamp) in yellow letters but that they should be indistinguishable as fake even under ultraviolet rays.
Linh waved her hand and said it was a “small thing.”
“Stamps with the letters BCA (for Bo Cong An) cost VND650 (3 cents) for 40 mm by 18 mm size, and VND250 for 20 mm by 10 mm.”
She even offered discounts like any legitimate business and asked us to deposit 50 percent of the value, promising to deliver the stamps within six days.
To our shock, Linh said she would submit our application to official agencies together with another customer to get a number of additional stamps printed.
She had to prepare a false business license for us to submit to the agency doing the printing.
Pretending to be ignorant of procedures, Tuoi Tre asked her to get the stamps printed at the Institute of Criminal Science instead of the Ministry of Public Security.
Linh replied that would be very hard.
“Since I am a regular customer of the Ministry of Public Security’s printing section, the price is cheap and procedures are easy.
“I can manage to print them at the institute but the price will be double and it will take 10 days.”
To prove her ability to get the job done, she showed us several contracts and models of stamps her company had done for other customers, and an actual stamp for H.
ompany which imports cosmetics from Taiwan.
Fake stamp
C (R) introduces Tuoi Tre correspondent some kinds of fake stamps ‘produced’ by his company
An even quicker and easier way to get the stamps made is by approaching Cuong, who lives on Luy Ban Bich Street in Tan Phu District.
He claimed he could himself print the stamps in any design with the words “Vien Khoa hoc Hinh su – Bo Cong An” (Institute of Criminal Science – Ministry of Public Security).
He was very busy since he had customers in provinces, he claimed further.
Cuong told Tuoi Tre he could counterfeit both the Ministry of Public Security and the Institute of Criminal Science’s stamps.
“I have my printer concealed in District 7 where no one can find it,” he boasted.
Cuong showed us many stamps he had designed and printed for customers, several looking like they had been printed at either of the two places.
There was one he had printed for DG Enterprise. On top were the company’s name and logo and the words “Vien Khoc hoc Hinh su.” Beneath were the words “Bo Cong An” which lit up under ultraviolet light.
He wanted VND6 million (US$285) for 100,000 anti-counterfeit stamps and an additional VND3 million for printing with ultraviolet reactive elements.
He agreed to print stamps for Tuoi Tre with the logo and trademark of a famous handphone company.
“Since I have many customers now, it will take around five days.”
A search turned up some 30 others offering the service in HCMC.
Colonel Pham Ngoc Hien, chief of the Institute of Criminal Science’s southern office, said the agency does not cooperate with anyone else to print the anti-counterfeit stamps. It prints the stamps on a special kind of paper and using special printing technology used for printing money, he said. Many companies stick stamps with the acronym B.C.A. (Bo Cong An) to deceive customers, he added. If a company buys 100,000 stamps, the institute provides it with an ultraviolet lamp. |
