Police are warning people to remain vigilant about fake beauty products, after arsenic, rat droppings, and human urine were discovered in seized goods.

Lab tests showed that batches of counterfeit make-up, perfume, and sun scream also contained toxic levels of chemicals, such as arsenic, cyanide, mercury, and lead.

Police also cautioned about the dangers of buying fake electrical beauty products online, as they are unlikely to have passed the rigorous safety standards required to be made available legally in the UK or elsewhere in Europe.

City of London Police urged consumers to avoid sites for counterfeit products altogether, as similar sites have been used to steal credit card numbers and other personal information from customers in the past.

Discussing the warnings, Haydn Simpson, director of brand protection at NetNames, said
“Fraudsters are employing increasingly sophisticated tactics to take advantage of the continued rise in e-commerce and trick shoppers into unknowingly buying counterfeit products.

“The internet is a vast, relatively unregulated space where counterfeiters are able to set up convincing fake websites, social media profiles and listings on marketplace sites. The fake cosmetics market alone is estimated to be worth around $3 billion globally.

“Those shopping online for make-up will think that they are getting a good deal, but may end up obtaining a substandard or even dangerous product that has not been subject to the rigorous testing the genuine products have to undergo.”

Simpson also offered some tips for shopping online to make sure you don’t get conned:

  1. Shop around – if one particular website is selling branded makeup at a much lower price than the rest think twice. If the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is!
  2. If the branding and logo looks unusual, or if there are spelling mistakes on the packaging, this is often a sign that the product may be counterfeit.
  3. How long ago was the domain name registered? Put the details into www.who.is and look at the date it was registered. Whilst it’s not a fail-safe test, domains registered for a year or more tend to suggest a website that’s reputable.
  4. Does the website use security certificate? Websites that invest in protecting the personal and financial details of their customers will always use SSL encryption. This is shown by a padlock in the website address bar or, when using certain browsers such as Chrome or Firefox, the URL bar will be green.
  5. What do other people say about the website? Social media ‘likes’ and followers are easy to purchase, giving the impression of authenticity. Take some time to search for peer reviews of the website and makeup products, as these are harder (although not impossible) to fake.”