Counterfeit video cameras dupe buyer|[04/04/07]

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Scott Cummins had already purchased not one, but two cameras he thought were digital video recorders when he realized he had been duped.

By that time, it was too late. He was out $475, and the seller had driven away from a gas station.

&#8220I’m at fault, too, for taking it when I should have known better,” said Cummins, 41, of Vicksburg. &#8220But I looked at them; I saw the Sony trademark. All of that stuff was just thrown on there.”

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The &#8220stuff” Cummins is talking about is what appears to be computer-generated trademark labels, including Sony and Apple. Those, along with other decals, were placed on the item to make it appear authentic.

But &#8220it’s counterfeit,” said Capt. Mark Culbertson of the Vicksburg Police Department. &#8220It’s not even a Sony. Off and on, people come through town selling counterfeit stuff like this.”

Cummins said he was at a Kangaroo service station on Washington Street around 11 a.m. Saturday when a man approached him and offered the two recorders, which would sell for approximately $800 each.

&#8220This guy comes up and said he had a DVD camera he wanted to sell,” Cummins said. &#8220He said it was brand new, wrapped in the package and that he wanted $100. I said ‘I will take them both.’ After it was all said and done, I paid about $475 for both of them.”

At first glance, the cameras, packed in a zippered camera case with bubble wrap and instruction book, do appear authentic.

Stickers reading &#8220big viewfinder,” &#8220power box” and light panel and buttons make it appear real. But the viewfinder is fake, and some of the buttons are not functional. The cameras are cameras, apparently able to take 35-mm still pictures – but that’s all.

&#8220It’s a throw-away camera, worth about $25” said George Durrell, a manager at the Rex electronics store in Vicksburg. &#8220You’re not going to get any parts for it. It’s not even a real camera. This is a big joke.”

Culbertson said U.S. Customs typically investigates such cases, in which counterfeit products such as watches, jewelry, cameras, clothes, perfume and other items are sold from cars.

&#8220You could get 10 years and a $10,000 fine,” he said. &#8220It’s called false pretense. Depending on how much money a person pays determines whether it’s a felony.” A $500 sale would have been a felony.”

&#8220This guy only got $475,” &#8220Culbertson said. &#8220He knew what he was doing.”

Cummins, who said a desire to warn others was his reason for admitting his error, described the suspect as black, in his late 20s, about 5-foot-3 and 250 pounds. He was driving a gray, late-model Volkswagen or Chrysler, Cummins said.