Pirated CDs Are Making Their Way Into Reputable Online Stores

While the onus is definitely on us as customers to do our research into the products we’re buying, you could not really be faulted if you assumed that if you bought a product from a reputable store that what you got was the real deal. However as Apple had pointed out previously, it seems that 9 out of 10 accessories sold on Amazon are fake.

However it seems that fake Apple accessories aren’t the only thing customers have to worry about. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, it looks like Amazon and other online retailers have been unknowingly selling pirated music CDs. In an investigation conducted by the RIAA, Amazon was found to have fulfilled 18 out of 44 orders on CDs that have been identified as counterfeit, so we guess for the most part the retailer is still catching fakes, but the fact that almost half of the sales slipped through is still a tad worrying.

Some of the pirates have been pretty crafty with how they do things, and have taken advantage of Amazon’s inventory management by grouping their stock with official partners, meaning that it is easy to slip a potentially fake product into the mix without anyone being the wiser. The good news is that Amazon isn’t letting this slide and have said that they are working closely with distributors and labels to clamp down on these fake CDs.

An Amazon spokeswoman also adds, “We are also taking action and aggressively pursuing bad actors.” In the meantime if you are looking to purchase CDs off Amazon, for now we guess it’s probably a good idea to try and read up on identifying pirated purchases before clicking that “Buy” button.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Audio, General
Tags: Music, Piracy