Helped by: xmen
First let us tell you what ELSPA is.. "The ELSPA Crime Unit was established in 1994 to safeguard the intellectual property rights of members' products." So a kind of BSA organisation...
ELSPA press release from last week:
Executing a warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act at the home of a 39 year old male in Clay Cross, Chesterfield, officers seized a quantity of illegal substances before discovering the equipment and discs to suggest the presence of large scale production of counterfeit computer games. |
Enforcement agencies have long known the links that exist between organised crime groups, who use counterfeiting as a means of gaining funds for other crime.
The Crime Unit at ELSPA (The European Leisure Software Publishers Association) have published figures showing that in 80% of the raids attended over the last year, they found evidence of other crimes ranging from fraud to prostitution and child pornography.
Now the elspa know whats going on in the scene.... drug dealer now moving their business to copy illegal playstation games..
Terry Anslow, Chief Investigator for the ELSPA Crime unit commented: 'What people often do not realise is that often these people can be very serious and dangerous criminals, not the harmless Del Boy character that has come to be associated with counterfeiting. These people are using the profits they make from counterfeiting to fund much more sinister crime and there are profits to be made, blank discs can be bought for a matter of pence and once downloaded with illegal software can be sold for £5 or more." He added: What the public does not recognize is that they are not getting a favour or a bargain - the money they give to these people is being used for other purposes and they may in fact be unwittingly helping these criminals. What's more the damage that is being done to the local businesses and the threat this creates for local jobs. ' Piracy is big business and is causing lasting damage to the future of software development in the UK. It is estimated that last year £3 billion was lost to games producers and retailers. Small retailers being particularly hard hit, as they cannot compete with the pirates. For these reasons, the ELSPA Crime Unit, working with police and trading standards, has significantly increased its activities. |
Are you convinced yet?
ELSPA also sends out a warning to consumers: Branches of organised crime have ventured into counterfeiting. These criminals are making obscene profits, paying just 40p for a disc that costs the consumer between £5 and £15, they have found they can set up a production chain capable of making large profits from a small room with little outlay, leaving them to reinvest the profits into funding more sinister behavior. Consumers need to realise that buying counterfeit goods does not simply mean getting a bargain. Instead they are being conned into buying something that is very probably poor quality, and in the case of the majority of counterfeit computer games, will not even work." ELSPA, together with other enforcement agencies, is doing everything it can to crack the pirates, but we cannot be everywhere at once and we need information. Anyone who is aware of a counterfeit operation, even if they are without proof, is urged to contact the ELSPA Hotline or their local Trading Standards office. |
I'm not gonna give you the number of the hotline
And beware of the following:
Advice to shoppers on how to spot a fake game is: - Buy from a recognised retail outlet, never from street traders, 'door-to-door' salesmen or car boot sales. - Look at the packaging, avoid poor quality or photocopied printed labels. - Genuine PlayStation games disks are always black, never blue silver or gold. |
Whahaha!
More information on the ELSPA crime unit soon...
