While I have been to New York City many times on business, I have never really been for a fun visit, to take in the whole New York City/Manhattan experience. I had such a wonderful time. I even got to meet Ivana Trump at the airport.

In January of this year I spent a few days in this wonderful city mostly touring the attraction sites. Rather than taking taxi cabs everywhere I bought day passes on the tour buses and used that for my mode of transportation to get around the city.

I was completely fascinated (or should I say disturbed) that the bus tour guides, when talking about Canal Street, went out of their way to tell everyone that Canal Street was a great place to buy counterfeit watches, purses and videos.

I couldn?t believe how out in the open the comment was, virtually every time I rode the bus. In fact, all the tour guides made mention of a large basement-type warehouse that was the biggest on the street, filled with fake products.

My visit to Canal street was everything I expected it to be, but worse. Tiny shops with backrooms full of fake Gucci, Coach and Fendi purses. If you wanted a fake watch all you had to do was ask. Either the watch vendor had them hidden or he could merely ask someone to bring them over in a canvas bag. Everything fake was for the asking and buying.

While I can spot a fake Rolex and Gucci watch, the Breitling Bentley watches were good copies and were selling like hot cakes. Women were lining up to get in the back rooms to look at purses, so clearly business was good for every vendor.
There had to be at least 100 people walking around with canvas bags selling watches, sun glasses and DVDs.

At the time I visited, the movie American Gangster was still in the theatres. You could have bought an illegal copy of the DVD for $5.00 out of a canvas bag.

In only two other countries have I ever seen street vendor counterfeiting and piracy this bad; Japan and Thailand.

When I got back to Toronto I was talking about the experience for weeks to people in my business. It was like New York had given up and Canal Street Counterfeiting was the new tourist attraction.

I?ve worked for many manufactures and distributors (and their legal counsel) who have fallen victim to counterfeiting, piracy, and copyright violations. Companies who have had to close factories and offices, and lay off staff. Even legitimate retailers in the same industry are affected - unable to compete with these fakes.

While consumers look for fake bargains many legitimate companies suffer.

The money from this crime stays undergound, just like drug money. It remains tax free to these vendors and will very often remain in the crime element.

Very often the products themselves are made in hidden sweat shops in Asia.
The PI industry has been fundamental in fighting counterfeiting and piracy and will continue to be. Every company that has fallen victim has either directly or indirectly retained a PI firm to assist in the problem. PIs usually act for the manufacture or their legal counsel. They identify who the vendor is by working under the pretext of being a customer. They buy products and then ultimately swear an affidavit to get the civil sheriff out to seize the goods.

In the early to mid ?90s the streets of Toronto had the same problem. Vendors were everywhere on the streets selling counterfeit products. But back then it was very much a civil problem. The police only got involved to keep the peace during the civil seizures of products. They rarely laid criminal charges on the vendors.

It was primarily up to the manufactures themselves to hire lawyers and private investigators to seek out the street vendors and find the bulk of the counterfeit product. Once the vendor had been identified the necessary paperwork had to be filed so the civil court Sheriff could go out and do a seizure, and serve a law suit on the vendor.

Even more frustrating for the manufacturer was the fact that the Sheriff was only allowed to seize goods on behalf of the manufacturer named in the order.

This meant that if the Sheriff was acting for only one watch manufacturer (for example) he could only seize that one brand name.

All other fake brand names would remain unseized. It was ridiculous.

Manufacturers had to team up with the same law firm so the civil Sheriff could raid the vendor and take just about everything in one raid.

While the manufacturers continue to try and sue these vendors, the civil judgments are worthless. How do you collect from a vendor working for cash? There is simply no financial recovery.

The city of Toronto has pretty much cleaned up the problem from vendors selling counterfeit products in the open.

But many products can still be found in Toronto?s China Town. All you have to do is ask.

It would seem that today, public law enforcement has become more involved in charging and prosecuting manufacturers and sellers of counterfeit products. It is certainly not to the satisfaction of most victims and their associations who continue to fight the problem.

As long as there is no law in place that prevents the consumer from buying the fake products the problem will never be resolved.
About a month after my trip I read that the New York Mayor?s office had raided dozens of storefronts on Canal Street. They seized counterfeit goods with an estimated street value of more than $1 million.

Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, obtained a temporary restraining order to shut down the storefronts. Forty-two undercover purchases were made in various storefronts.

The investigation uncovered counterfeits of such brands as Coach, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Prada, Rolex, Fendi, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Dora the Explorer and Oakley.

While I applaud the raid, I wonder - how long will it be until they all come back? Will there ever be a law that will stop people from buying the fake stuff in the first place? Will we ever see a tourist held up at customs because he or she was found to possess a fake watch, purse, or a pair of sunglasses ?

It?s doubtful !

The Problem


More and more each day competitors, ex-associates, new start-up ventures, and unscrupulous individuals are using electronic eavesdropping as a way to gather information that could seriously damage your business.

"Bugs" telephone taps and video transmitters (above) are readily available that can compromise your business secrets for as little as $30.00.

The manufacture, sale, installation, and monitoring of these devices is a multi-billion dollar industry in North America.

Unless you are a law enforcement agency with an Order or Warrant for a wire tap, it is a criminal offence to record the conversations of two or more persons without their consent.



? Confidential information seems to be getting out to competitors.

? Competitors seem to be just one step ahead all of the time.

? Your office was broken into yet very little or nothing was taken.

? Sockets or switches show signs of being moved slightly, ie: the wallpaper may be disturbed.

? Vehicles parked near to your premises, that appear to be empty.

? Your telephone rings but no one speaks or you just hear a short tone.

? Unusual sounds (crackling, clicks, volume changes) on your telephone handset.

? Indications that your handset may have been exchanged, ie: numbers in memory may be lost.

? Repairers or utility companies turn up to carry out work when they have not been called.

? Furniture or items appear to have been disturbed.

? Interference on your radio or television.

? Unexplained brick or plaster dust on floor.


The most commonly and widely used of all the devices is the RF (Radio Frequency) transmitter bug. These devices are inexpensive easy to use and require no specialized receiving equipment a simple AM or FM radio can be used to monitor the bug. Due to their low cost, there is very little incentive to recover these devices once planted.



The Spectrum Analysis is used to detect RF devices is capable of monitoring frequencies up to 36 Gigaherts. This will also include very low frequency (VLF) devices which transmit on frequencies down to 15 Kilohertz.


The next method is often known as the "wire tap" or a "hard wire bug". The wiretap will use any existing wiring in the home or office ie: the electrical plugs (see photo above), alarm systems or even the telephone wiring.

This is similar a typical baby monitor situation where you plug the transmitter into one room and the receiver in the other.


Many think that telephones are only a security risk when being used but a simple modification to the handset can leave the microphone connected, even when the phone is not in use.

Wired and wireless transmitters must be physically connected to the line before they will do any good. Once a wireless tap is connected to the line, it can transmit all conversations over a limited reception range. Wired taps, on the other hand, need no power source, but a wire must run from the line to the listener or to a transmitter.

An 'Infinity Transmitter' or 'Harmonica Bug' must be installed inside the phone. When someone calls the tapped phone it rings, blows a whistle over the line, and the transmitter picks up the phone via a relay. The mike on the phone is activated so that the caller can hear all of the conversations in the room.




The telephone line analyzing equipment is used during the sweep (photo above) is capable of determining illegal taps, defective phones, room listening devices, splices, VLF devices, infinity triggered devices, and selectively targeted phones in situations where a tap has been placed in a wire closet or a telephone room.

A signal is generated from your phone right to the Bell Canada Phone Centre (or the main phone centre of your particular State or Province). The purpose is to evaluate the current in the line and to discover if any device has been placed on the line that might be causing a drop in the current.

Here are some interesting videos of an actual Counter Electronic Sweep being conducted by a Private Investigation agency in Ontario Canada.