Warning over counterfeit Chinese poppies which raise no money for poppy appeal

Warning: a listing for the fake poppies on ebay
Aliexpress
Sophie Williams26 October 2018

The government has issued a warning over counterfeit poppies after hundreds were found on one of China’s largest online shopping stores.

The intellectual property office and Royal British Legion has urged consumers to beware of fake poppy merchandise and to purchase the goods through official channels.

Aliexpress and Taobao, both owned by Chinese company Alibaba have been found to be selling imitation poppies with none of the money going to charity.

Items for sale include the two petal and four petal poppy with some of the brooches containing the phrase ‘lest we forget.’

Multiple poppies have been found on Aliexpress and Taobao
Aliexpress

One of the sellers used royal names such as Kate to try and shift the items while others used the Royal British Legion's name.

Most of the poppies found on sale were priced between $1 (78p) and $22 (£17.16).

Claire Rowcliffe, Director of Fundraising from the Royal British Legion said: “It is a sad fact that there are people who actively defraud the public in order to take funds intended for the support of our Armed Forces community.

One item used the name Princess Kate to try and shift the items
Taobao

“We would urge everyone wishing to purchase a Remembrance poppy brooch, to do so through official channels. For example, you can buy from one of our trusted volunteers, from The Royal British Legion’s online Poppy Shop, or from one of our corporate partners."

How to avoid fake poppies

  • be a 'responsible buyer' - buy from official channels and The Royal British Legion's corporate partners
  • avoid cheaper priced products. If the price is too good to be true, it usually is
  • Only buy from corporate partners authorised by the Royal British Legion
  • Buy through the Royal British Legion or The Royal British Legion official eBay site

It comes a year after border control seized thousands of fake poppy branded items that were shipped from China and destined for Manchester.

The fake goods were seized at Tilbury docks and were said to be worth around £150,000.

A spokesperson for Alibaba told the Standard: “AliExpress and Taobao marketplace platforms prohibit illicit, illegal or fraudulent behaviour on our platforms.

"As such, we will be removing listings which are in violation of our listings policy. We will continue to take action against sellers which violate our marketplace terms and conditions.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT