23 September 2025
Dangerous Dyson hairdryers and GHD straighteners, rip-off Apple Airpods and fake football shirts are among the counterfeit products sold online that Which? has uncovered, as it calls for an urgent overhaul of Trading Standards.
In June the consumer champion purchased a selection of suspected fake products from online marketplaces eBay, Temu, and Vinted. The products included sought-after items such as a Dyson hairdryer, GHD hair straighteners, Apple AirPods, an England football shirt, Ugg boots, and a Disney 'Stitch' toy - all items are made by brands known to be targets for counterfeiters.
For comparison purposes, Which? also bought the genuine products directly from brand websites. Many fake products look almost identical to the genuine items, with differences probably unlikely to be spotted straightaway by an unsuspecting buyer. However, Which? found red flags such as being sold as new and unused on second hand sites, being sold well below market rates, as well as having reviews questioning authenticity.
Which? researchers bought an item advertised as a 'new' Dyson Supersonic Hairdryer on second hand marketplace Vinted for £110, despite the genuine item retailing at around £280. When researchers compared the item from Vinted with the one they bought from Dyson's website they found superficial differences. The colours on the box of the fake were less vivid and the fake hairdryer was about 10% lighter than the real one. There was also a spelling mistake on the casing (Waterr instead of water).
More worryingly, when Which? sent the suspected fake hairdryer to be inspected by experts at campaigning charity Electrical Safety First, it revealed a significant fire risk due to a fake fuse and a non-compliant plug.
Another fake and dangerous item Which? found was a set of GHD Platinum Plus Straighteners bought from Vinted for £89, which were also advertised as 'new with tags,' despite the real thing retailing for £179. Once again researchers found the fake to be lighter (7%) than the genuine article, the logo was a slightly different colour and the fake took longer to heat up and cool down. Further inspection revealed a more sinister issue - a fake fuse, which poses a fire risk, as well as a fake cable, an old-style circuit board and a construction that indicated a risk of the plates becoming live in the event of a fault.
Not all of the items Which? bought were found to be dangerous, but some were still clearly fake and of very poor quality. On eBay Which? found a set of Apple Airpods for £83.92 rather than the retail cost of around £180. The fakes were very light - 44 per cent lighter than their genuine counterpart with a slightly lighter coloured box and cheaper looking moulding. A Which? laboratory listening test revealed they had very poor sound quality.
Also among the poor quality fakes Which? found was an England Nike football shirt being sold on Vinted for £18. Compared to a shirt of the same style purchased from the England store, the fake had the wrong colour inside stitching, the neck was not straight, the motif was less rigid and it lacked a hologram on the tag to prove its authenticity.
Another suspected fake Which? bought was a pair of Ugg Classic Ultra Mini boots from eBay for £84, £61 cheaper than the real thing from the Ugg Store. The 'sheepskin' lining on the fake pair felt very different and not as soft. There wasn't a hologram on the inside label, and the stitching was different. The sole was thinner, and the moulding squarer with untidier edges.
Which? also found a Disney Stitch toy on Temu being sold for £8.12. When compared to a genuine equivalent purchased from the Disney store for £24, the fake looked very different. The colour was less vivid, the size was much smaller and crucially there was no Disney logo.
In the UK, Trading Standards teams are supposed to enforce consumer protection laws, including those around counterfeit goods sold in shops and online. But data obtained by Which? under the Freedom of Information Act shows that intellectual property and counterfeit work was one of the most commonly deprioritised areas by Trading Standards in Great Britain over the past five years.
These services, based within local authorities, are in the impossible position of enforcing hundreds of consumer protection and other laws - on the high street and online - but many do not have the capacity to meet this challenge. The work that they are able to undertake also varies greatly around the country.
Spotting counterfeits can be tricky - and stopping them even more so. Which? is calling for an overhaul of the Trading Standards enforcement system to ensure that it is able to deal with areas of most potential risk, with more scrutiny of local authorities to ensure the effectiveness of these teams, better intelligence sharing and more oversight of consumer protection. This includes more sharing of resources and expertise across Trading Standards teams, as well as with national regulators
Without clear consequences - and a stronger possibility of getting caught - it's difficult to see where the deterrent lies for dodgy sellers.
(Source: Which?, 19 September 2025)