Drunken Credit Card China shopping.....

[Matt_B]

Gee, if selling fake guitars is against the law then buying them must be illegal as well.

Officials: More than $1 million in fake guitars found at Jersey City Mail Center

[pianoguyy]

Gee, if selling fake guitars is against the law then buying them must be illegal as well.

Officials: More than $1 million in fake guitars found at Jersey City Mail Center

Owning them is illegal. They could come into your home and seize your stuff.
Or worse, stop a gig in the middle of a song and take all of your gear.

[clifffclaven]

Yeah, a 23 fret or botched P'up routing $3K Jackson CS is a clear sign of "getting what you pay for" and certainly made everyone stop buying them

Lol. Ok. I've seen two 'jems' come thru the shop I teach at. From an ebay picture standpoint, they could have easily been passed off as the real deal. In person, the scalloping looked like it was done by a 4 year old with a chisel. But then again, what do I know.

[shramiac]

In person, the scalloping looked like it was done by a 4 year old with a chisel.

My '89 JEM looks like that!

[BlackRR]

Not sure if it's true but I was told last night by a friend of a friend who has one of these Chinese guitars that he recieved a letter from customs requesting the guitar be returned to them and made it sound like he was now out the money and the guitar.

[Model1VH2]

Officials: More than $1 million in fake guitars found at Jersey City Mail Center

That packaging looks familiar.

Not sure if it's true but I was told last night by a friend of a friend who has one of these Chinese guitars that he recieved a letter from customs requesting the guitar be returned to them and made it sound like he was now out the money and the guitar.

That's hard to believe.

[Matt_B]

Not sure if it's true but I was told last night by a friend of a friend who has one of these Chinese guitars that he recieved a letter from customs requesting the guitar be returned to them and made it sound like he was now out the money and the guitar.

I find that hard to believe but hey, if you play stupid games you win stupid prizes.

[pianoguyy]

I find that hard to believe but hey, if you play stupid games you win stupid prizes.

Other than then how quickly the government got names and mailed letters:
I find it easy to believe. Especially if the companies (builder, packers, boat shipping, truck shipping, home delivery, credit card) kept records. Whether the records were seized or turned over voluntarily.
And handing it in to be destroyed is certainly better than having them kick your door in and finding your September 1984 issue of Penthouse in the search for contraband. - the guitar is not going to be listed on a warrant as a guitar, it will be called contraband, and they will search for anything.


The best thing to do, if the letter is real, is to remove the Brand and any other kind of labelling.
No, sir, I did not buy a fake Ibanez, I bought a cheap guitar. See, no label.

Of course, I think I may have just aided and abetted a conspiracy to defraud and probably racketeering, just by telling you to do that.


LAW
People tend to change their political ideology when they get involved with legal issues. Big government is only fun when you are on benefit side. Its not so fun when you lose your guitar and end up on Megan's List because you inherited your dad's old magazines.

[Model1VH2]

Other than then how quickly the government got names and mailed letters:
I find it easy to believe. Especially if the companies (builder, packers, boat shipping, truck shipping, home delivery, credit card) kept records. Whether the records were seized or turned over voluntarily.
And handing it in to be destroyed is certainly better than having them kick your door in and finding your September 1984 issue of Penthouse in the search for contraband. - the guitar is not going to be listed on a warrant as a guitar, it will be called contraband, and they will search for anything.


The best thing to do, if the letter is real, is to remove the Brand and any other kind of labelling.
No, sir, I did not buy a fake Ibanez, I bought a cheap guitar. See, no label.

Of course, I think I may have just aided and abetted a conspiracy to defraud and probably racketeering, just by telling you to do that.


LAW
People tend to change their political ideology when they get involved with legal issues. Big government is only fun when you are on benefit side. Its not so fun when you lose your guitar and end up on Megan's List because you inherited your dad's old magazines.

It'll never happen ...
If nothing else, it's just not cost effective to knock on doors to confiscate a $200 guitar as opposed to "$1 million" worth of guitars at the Post Office.

[pianoguyy]

It'll never happen ...
If nothing else, it's just not cost effective to knock on doors to confiscate a $200 guitar as opposed to "$1 million" worth of guitars at the Post Office.

It may not be effective to send a hundred agents from DC to each individual's home.
But they have local branches. They have the help of sheriffs and local cops.

In an election year, do you think that some DA isn't going to want to get his face in the news saying 'I helped protect American jobs by assisting with a federal investigation to bring down foreign counterfeiters'.

Don't get me wrong, it'll probably never happen. But these are the risks criminals take (owning one is a crime, the owner is a criminal). And as I said, that one particular issue of penthouse gets you a much larger penalty. Your old bong from college isn't a memory, it is drug paraphernalia. That 'WWII memorabilia' that you own is really a stolen military weapon. Your internet browsing history.
Once you start examining your life under a microscope and start looking at things from a 'news headline' perspective, everything looks different.

[artonsafari]

My math may be off, but $1M for about 200 guitars works out to be $5k each.

[pianoguyy]

My math may be off, but $1M for about 200 guitars works out to be $5k each.

I read one of the articles.
They had Martin's worth $54,000.

Even if its only one, it still brings the average bit.

And I believe the dollar figures are the prices of the real items, not the selling price of the fakes.
So, an Ibanez Jem that sells for a couple grand, but the fake gets sold for $100. That's a $3000 seizure, not a $100 seizure. Or the real item MSRP is $3k, but real world sales would be $2k. It still gets listed as a $3k

[Brandenburg]

I read one of the articles.
They had Martin's worth $54,000.

Even if its only one, it still brings the average bit.

And I believe the dollar figures are the prices of the real items, not the selling price of the fakes.
So, an Ibanez Jem that sells for a couple grand, but the fake gets sold for $100. That's a $3000 seizure, not a $100 seizure. Or the real item MSRP is $3k, but real world sales would be $2k. It still gets listed as a $3k

JUST like they inflate supposed street value of drugs confiscated in a raid...its always way off the mark IMO

[tomanyjacksons]

Fuck, I'm going to have to get my tin fool hat back out.

[Rich#6]

Fuck, I'm going to have to get my tin fool hat back out.

I was thinking the same thing. lol