The government on Monday announced plans to raid online shopping websites in the war against counterfeit goods.
The Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA) noted that the shopping sites are to blame for a majority of counterfeit household items in the market.
ACA Chief Officer public communication Tom Muteti told reporters that the investigations had revealed that electronics, cosmetics, cigarettes and alcoholic drinks from the sites are counterfeits.
"Last week we started a fresh crackdown on online counterfeiters and we are going to escalate the war.
[caption caption="ACA acting Executive Director John Akoten (second from right) with other officials during launch of inter-agency forum in April 2018"]
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"We have two guys, an IT expert and a forensic expert and we net online counterfeiters through complaints given by consumers," Muteti stated.
A survey carried out by the agency further observed: "This can be found particularly in relation to the open internet trade platforms.
"Consumers can purchase products from all over the world and have them delivered straight to their doors with just the click of a button," the survey reported.
The communications officers cited a recent bust of Ksh2.1 Billion worth of counterfeit goods in electronic items, bulbs, tv decoders and extension cables.
He explained that the nab had been made possible through the Inter-Agency Anti-Illicit Working Group that was formed in April 2018.
Deputy Head of Public Service Wanyama Musiambo, who heads the task force, assured members of the public that not all items in the market are counterfeit.
"No, no. It's not that everything is fake. Let us also not be alarmists," he said in an interview with The Standard.
[caption caption="Deputy head of Public Service Wanyama Musiambo speaks during a past press briefing"]
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