Online Sellers of Fake and Unregulated Products in the Philippines Targeted by Police

If you have been purchasing a lot of products online here in the Philippines, was there a time when a seller cheated you or scammed you over a transaction? A lot of online sellers have been involved in the distribution of fake and unregulated products, and the Philippine National Police (PNP) is actively searching for them, according to a news report by the Manila Bulletin.

To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the news report of the Manila Bulletin. Some parts in boldface…

The Philippine National Police has strengthened its intelligence and enforcement efforts against online sellers and networks involved in the distribution of fake and unregulated products that may endanger consumers.

PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr. said they are now working with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and other partner agencies to identify those behind the illegal trade and build cases for prosecution.

“The PNP backs efforts to strengthen the crackdown against counterfeit goods online. We will continue to coordinate with our partner agencies to identify those behind the illegal trade and ensure that appropriate charges are filed,” Nartatez said.

Nartatez ‘statement was issued amid a call from consumer advocacy group Malayang Konsyumer for an immediate and sustained government crackdown on counterfeit products being sold through e-commerce platforms.

The group warned that fake medicines, vitamins, health supplements and beauty products may contain toxic chemicals, while counterfeit clothing, footwear, toys and perfumes as products that could expose consumers to hidden health risks.

It also raised concerns over substandard electronics that may cause fires or electrocution and fake household adhesives, sealants and building materials that may pose structural and health hazards.

“We will not allow online platforms to become a safe haven for counterfeiters. The PNP will strengthen intelligence gathering and enforcement operations against individuals and networks engaged in the sale and distribution of fake and unregulated products,” Nartatez said.

“Counterfeit goods are not only an intellectual property concern. They are also health and safety matters in most cases that need immediate and aggressive law enforcement response,” he added.

The PNP’s planned action will build on its existing campaign against smuggling and other economic crimes.

From January to June 2026, police conducted 8,986 anti-smuggling operations, resulting in the arrest of 2,560 individuals and the seizure of about P8.6 billion worth of smuggled cigarettes and equipment.

The campaign has also extended to other illegal goods as the PNP confiscated P628 million worth of smuggled goods, counterfeit products, and other illegal articles in nationwide operations in July.

Let me end this post by asking you readers: What is your reaction to this recent development? Has any online seller released to you a counterfeit product? Do you believe that online shopping platforms like Shopee and Lazada have a lot of scammers and abusive online sellers?

You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.

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#ASEAN #Asia #AssociationOfSoutheastAsianNationsASEAN #Bing #business #businessNews #CarloCarrasco #ChatGPT #commerce #counterfeit #counterfeiters #crime #crimeNews #DepartmentOfTradeAndIndustryDTI #economicConfidence #economics #economy #EconomyOfPhilippines #equipment #Facebook #Fediverse #finance #food #geek #Google #GoogleSearch #governance #Instagram #IntellectualPropertyOfficeOfThePhilippinesIPOPHL #Investagrams #jobs #manufacturing #Mastodon #medicine #merchants #money #multiculturalism #news #onlineSellers #onlineSelling #onlineShopping #PhilippineNationalPolicePNP #Philippines #PhilippinesBlog #Pinoy #PNP #police #PoliceDepartment #policeForce #publicService #scam #scammers #scamming #sellers #socialMedia #SoutheastAsia #technology #trade #traders #trading #Twitter #WordPress #WordPressCom

Today in Labor History August 25, 1921, the Battle of Blair Mountain began in Logan County, West Virginia. It was the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War, and the largest labor uprising in U.S. history. 10,000-15,000 coal miners battled 3,000 cops, private cops and vigilantes, who were backed by the coal bosses. Up to 100 miners died in the fighting, along with 10-30 Baldwin-Felts detectives and three national guards. Nearly 1,000 people were arrested. One million rounds were fired. And the government bombed striking coal miners by air, using homemade bombs and poison gas left over from World War I. This was the second time the government had used planes to bomb its own citizens within the U.S. (the first was against African American during the racist Tulsa pogrom, earlier that same year).

The Battle of Matewan had occurred just a year before. Baldwin-Felt private police tried to arrest Sheriff Sid Hatfield, who supported the miners, using a bogus arrest warrant. Unbeknownst to the detectives, armed miners had surrounded them. No one knows who shot first, but when the smoke had cleared, there were seven dead detectives, including Albert and Lee Felts, and four dead townspeople, including the mayor. On August 1, 1921, surviving members of Baldwin-Felts assassinated Hatfield in broad daylight, on the steps of Welch County courthouse, as his wife watched in horror. As news of his death spread, miners began arming themselves and threatened to march to the anti-union stronghold of Logan County to overthrow Sheriff Dan Chaffin, the coal company tyrant who murdered miners with impunity. Fearing a bloodbath, Mother Jones tried to dissuade them from marching. Many accused her of losing her nerve. The march led to all-out war, as the authorities sent in police, private cops, and deputized vigilantes to battle the miners.

You can read my full article on the battle and its historical roots here: michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/…

#workingclass #LaborHistory #BlairMountain #mining #coal #westvirginia #matewan #police #vigilantes #racism #tulsa #motherjones

🥶 Elektroschock-Handschuhe für US-Abschiebebeamte👮

Die US-Regierung plant ganz aktuell, für 10 bis 20 Millionen US-Dollar Elektroschock-Handschuhe für ICE, der Abschiebepolizei, zu beschaffen, also ausgerechnet für jene Einheiten, die an brutalen Festnahmen und Abschiebungen beteiligt sind.

Der Anbieter ist "Compliant Technologies" aus Kentucky. Die Firma verkauft Handschuhe, die bei direktem Körperkontakt Elektroschocks abgeben, aber auch Elektroschock-Westen und -Fußfesseln.

Elektroschock-Waffen werden immer unsichtbarer und ihre Anwendung damit für Außenstehende immer schwerer erkennbar.

Wie funktionieren diese Waffen? Was ist über Missbrauchsfälle bekannt? Wer steckt hinter dem Unternehmen? Und welche Verbindungen finden sich zu einem Milieu aus christlichem Fundamentalismus und Verschwörungserzählungen?

Ich habe hier versucht ein paar Hintergründe zusammen zu tragen:
breakdownthewalls.site36.net/2…

#glove #elektroschock #polizei #militär #kentucky #usa #Elswick #ice #uspol #dod #donnerstag #deutschland #police #polizeiproblem #innenpolitik #waffen #weapon

#Review: Spider-Man: Brand New Day – A #Hero for the #Surveillance State?

source: themoviedb.org/movie/969681-sp…

At first, #Spider-Man: Brand New Day looks like another emotional #superhero #story. Peter Parker has lost everything. No one remembers him, not even MJ. He searches for his #identity while trying to protect #NewYork. The #film spends much of its time on #trauma, #loneliness, and #mental #health.

But behind this personal story lies a political #message. The film presents mass surveillance as something necessary and even heroic. This is where the #movie becomes much more interesting—and much more troubling.

Spider-Man uses powerful surveillance #technology to watch the city. He collects video from many security cameras. He scans every face to find criminals. Even the #police admit that this is probably #illegal. Still, the film treats these actions as acceptable because Spider-Man is one of the "good guys."

Jean Grey—now portrayed by Sadie Sink (She kept her role a huge secret beforehand for marketing reasons.) in the Marvel Universe—falls into the facial recognition trap set by Spider-Man's surveillance program. If, by the end, you feel sorry for Jean Grey because the script wants you to and you’ve let yourself be swept up in the drama, then please remember that at the beginning of the movie, Jean possessed an old man and sent him running into the street so he would be brutally run over. She’s a mass murderer who’ll stop at nothing to achieve her goal. She could easily achieve this goal with her incredible superpower, but she makes it unnecessarily complicated by first freeing the Scorpion, which is what draws Spider-Man's attention to her in the first place.

This idea has a long #history in popular culture. The strongest comparison is George Orwell's 1984. #Orwell imagined a #society where every citizen is watched. Surveillance is presented as a tool for #security, but it destroys #freedom. In Brand New Day, the situation is different because Spider-Man is a hero, not a dictator. Yet the basic question remains the same: Who watches the watchers? If one person can see everyone, who controls that person?

The film never really asks this #question. Instead, it assumes that surveillance is good as long as the right people #control it. This is one of its biggest #weaknesses.

Another interesting comparison is The Dark Knight. In Christopher Nolan's film, #Batman creates a machine that can monitor every mobile phone in Gotham. Lucius Fox calls it too dangerous because it gives one person unlimited power. Batman agrees. He uses the system only once to catch the #Joker and then destroys it immediately.

Brand New Day takes a very different approach. Spider-Man's surveillance technology is not treated as a #moral #problem. Instead, it becomes a normal #tool of #crime fighting. The ethical debate that makes The Dark Knight so powerful is almost completely missing.

The transcript also compares Spider-Man's work with modern surveillance technology. Peter Parker works closely with the Department of Damage Control and helps collect huge amounts of personal data. The review argues that this creates a positive image of a close relationship between #government institutions and powerful technology companies.

This makes the film feel surprisingly modern. Today, governments and private companies collect enormous amounts of digital information. Cameras, facial recognition, smartphones and artificial #intelligence make surveillance easier than ever before. The movie reflects this reality but rarely questions it.

One of the most interesting contradictions is #PeterParker himself. He wants #privacy for his own life. He hides his identity and wants to escape public attention. At the same time, he watches everyone else and scans thousands of faces. The film never fully explores this contradiction.

This creates an uncomfortable message. Privacy seems important for the hero but less important for ordinary citizens.

The citizens themselves hardly have a voice. They mostly watch, cheer and accept Spider-Man's actions without #discussion. They never decide whether they want to live in such a #society. They simply #trust the hero.

As #entertainment, Spider-Man: Brand New Day offers impressive visuals and emotional performances. However, its political ideas deserve much more attention. The film normalizes mass surveillance while presenting it as an act of kindness and #responsibility. It replaces difficult ethical questions with emotional storytelling.

Unlike 1984, it does not warn us about surveillance. Unlike The #DarkKnight, it does not seriously question its use. Instead, it asks the #audience to trust the hero completely.

That may be the film's most surprising message. The greatest danger is not an #evil government forcing surveillance on its people. The greater danger is that we willingly accept surveillance because it is carried out by someone we like.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day succeeds as an emotional superhero #drama. As a political film, however, it raises fascinating questions without giving convincing answers.

#cinema #criticism #fail #ethics #future #cybersecurity #ice #palantir #homelandsecurity #america #nyc #ny #humanity #humanrights #marvel #news #politics #policestate #police #bigbrother #propaganda #lawandorder #justice

#Windows Device #Identifier Helped #FBI Trace and #Arrest Alleged Scattered Spider Member

source: cyberpress.org/windows-device-…

Investigators then pivoted from the device identifier to real-world #identity by cross-referencing IP addresses tied to the #GDID against #IP logs from Stokes’s #Snapchat, #Facebook, and #Apple accounts obtained via search warrants.

On multiple dates, including sessions from #Tallinn, #Estonia; #NewYork City; and #Thailand, the GDID-linked device and Stokes’s personal accounts connected from identical IP addresses within hours of each other, at times corroborated by State Department travel records and hotel-branded photos he posted on Snapchat.

I could say his #mistake was using Windows, but he made so many more mistakes by posting to his social media channels at the same time using the same IP address. It takes a lot more than just a VPN to outsmart the FBI.

#news #security #hack #hacker #surveillance #technology #software #tracking #vpn #spy #microsoft #law #police #justice #cybercrime #crime #socialmedia #account #error #failure #jail #globaldeviceidentifier

Today in Labor History June 6, 1894: Colorado’s governor sent in the state militia to support the Cripple Creek miners' strike, the only time in history that a state militia was used to help a workers’ struggle, rather than to suppress it. The mine owners were demanding a 10-hour day without an increase in pay. In response, the miners went on strike. There was considerable violence from both sides during the strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). On March 16, some miners ambushed, shot and beat some sheriff’s deputies. The judge, a WFM member, let the miners off, but charged the deputies with carrying concealed weapons. Furious, the Sheriff arrested 20 union leaders. Meanwhile, the mine owners conspired to bring in hundreds of scabs and deputized vigilantes. When the new deputies marched on the strikers’ camp, the miners blew up several mine structures, forcing the deputies to flee. The mine owners hired hundreds more vigilantes for their army. When he heard about the size of the miner owners’ force, the governor declared the deputies illegal and sent in state troops to defend the miners.

On June 5, the day before the state troops arrived, the mine owners’ army began cutting telegraph lines and arresting and beating reporters and hundreds of town residents, including many who weren’t miners. When the state troops arrived, there were already gun battles going on between the vigilante army and the miners. However, the state troops gained control of the town relatively quickly and the mine owners disbanded their army and sent them home. 300 miners were arrested, but only four were convicted. And the populist governor pardoned them all. The WFM won, keeping the 8-hour day and their $3/day wages. And, they were so popular because of their victory, that they easily organized most of the other industries in the region (e.g., waitresses, laundry workers, bartenders, newsboys) into 54 new locals.

The Cripple Creek strike was a prelude for the Colorado Labor Wars (1903-1904), led by future IWW cofounded Big Bill Haywood, and the Colorado Coalfield War (1913-1914), which historian Thomas G. Andrews called the “deadliest strike in the history of the United States” and which included the Ludlow Massacre. Hundreds were killed in the Coalfield War. During the Labar Wars of 1903-1904, James McParland ran the Pinkerton agency in Denver. He had served as an agent provocateur in the Pennsylvania miners’ union in the 1870s. The state convicted and executed 20 innocent Irish coal miners because of his testimony. (I have depicted that story in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.”) Like he did in Pennsylvania, McParlan tried to sabotage the WFM by placing spies and agents provocateur within the union.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #mining #colorado #union #strike #solidarity #militia #sabotage #police #policebrutality #EightHourDay #wfm #vigilantes #cripplecreek #pinkertons #fiction #historicalfiction #books #novel #author @bookstadon

You can read more about the Ludlow Massacre here: michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/…

My novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill” is available from these retailers:
keplers.com/
greenapplebooks.com/
boundtogether.org//
historiumpress.com/michael-dun…

Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

Today in Labor History May 21, 1979: The White Night Riot occurred in San Francisco, California, the day before Harvey Milk’s birthday. On November 10, 1978, ex-cop and former city supervisor, Dan White, murdered Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, and the popular progressive mayor, George Moscone. His murder trial concluded on May 21. The jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter. However, the prosecutor had asked for a finding of first-degree murder. It was, after all, premeditated. This verdict was likely influenced by the absurd Twinkie Defense, in which his lawyer argued that it could not have been premeditated due to his diminished capacity and depression, a symptom of which was his recent shift from a healthy diet to a junk food diet. A similar defense had failed repeatedly to get students excused from exams and school detentions.

Needless to say, the public was outraged. However, there had been decades of police harassment and physical abuse of San Francisco’s LGBTQ community lead up to this miscarriage of justice. Tensions were already high. And this ruling, which virtually absolved White of his homophobic crime, was the torch to the powder keg. Things began with a peaceful march through the Castro district. But when the crowd arrived at City Hall, violence began. People attacked the windows of City Hall. When the cops tried to protect the building, people hurled rocks and bottles at them, forcing them to run inside. Where ever the cops showed up, people threw rocks at them. At least a dozen cop cars were torched. They busted windows in the financial district and in government buildings.

Many people were injured. The riot caused hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of property damage to City Hall. And when the riot was finally subdued, the cops made a retaliatory raid on the Elephant Bar, in the Castro District. Cops in riot gear beat patrons. They arrested 24 people.

Furthermore, the double assassination of Moscone and Milk dramatically altered the political landscape of San Francisco. Under Moscone and Milk, the city was moving in a progressive, pro-neighborhood direction. With the new mayor, Diane Feinstein, city politics returned to the traditional, conservative, pro-Chamber of Commerce, law and order framework that had preceded Moscone and Milk, and the followed after them to this day.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #harveymilk #homophobia #lgbtq #policebrutality #police #acab #homophobia #danwhite #sanfrancisco #castro #assassination #georgemoscone #dianefeinstein #twinkie

Today in Labor History May 15, 1969: Police fought students in the Battle for People's Park at the University of California Berkeley, California. The battle was over a small strip of land that the students had claimed as community commons. Governor Ronald Reagan sent in National Guards to reclaim the Park. Police gunfire killed a bystander, James Rector, and wounded 60 others, including Alan Blanchard, who was blinded for life. Street fighting continued for 17 days. Another 150 demonstrators would be shot and wounded. The battle for the park has continued ever since, with the university continuing to claim ownership and threatening to turn the park into everything from units of student housing to a parking lot. The defenders of the park have done numerous direct actions over the past 55 years to defend the park, provide mutual aid, provide free food and clothes to unhoused folks, and offer community classes. In 1992, cops shot and killed Park Defender Rosebud Denovo, after she broke into the basement of the residence of UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien. As recently as 2024, the cops have attacked, beaten, and/or arrested park defenders. Also in that year, the California Supreme Court sided with the University and its plans to build student housing on the park. In 2025, the university announced that the new housing would be named after Disability Rights activist Judy Heumann.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #PeoplesPark #berkeley #students #protest #activism #homelessness #reagan #PoliceBrutality #police #acab #studentprotest #university #UCBerkeley #judyjeumann

I mean c’mon people. The racist 1994 Clinton #Crime Bill co-authored by #Biden, HRC calling Black teens “superpredators,” #Obama droning more people than any #POTUS in #history including an American teenager and Arabs innocently attending a wedding, HRC endorsing the illegal coup in #Honduras (supporting murder exactly like Kissinger himself would have), Obama vacationing while Black Missourians in Ferguson were being gassed by militarized #police, Biden deporting more Haitians than any POTUS in history and smearing our college students who opposed his #genocide in #Palestine “antisemitic.” Vichy #Democrats hardly repaired any of the damage of fascist #Republicans.

Ω 🌍 Gus Posey

2026-04-02 12:20:31

Democrats have always repaired the damage caused by Republicans. Additionally, Donald has inspired a whole generation of younger Democrats who are eager to restore balance and eliminate every trace of this nightmare regime.