Louise Cameron would never call herself rich, not by a long shot. But the 44-year-old mother of three from Adelaide has always dreamed of owning a designer bag. And no ordinary bag, either: a medium-sized Saint Laurent chain bag that costs more than AUD$4,000 at the brand’s boutique. So when she spotted the bag on sale at designer outlet Cosette, she thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
But the deal of the century quickly turned into a nightmare. Cameron had been researching the bag for years before buying it (thanks to her husband’s horse racing winnings), so she knew every detail about it. When her bag arrived from Cosette on April 24, something seemed off: the photo on the certificate of authenticity that came with the bag didn’t look like the one she was holding, and the serial number wasn’t quite right.
Since Cameron had already spent $2,400, she figured it wouldn’t be a big deal to spend another $40 to have the bag authenticated again. Authentication is usually done by taking detailed photographs of the bag. Two hours later, her suspicions were confirmed: a certificate from an appraisal company called Legitgrails arrived. The appraiser declared Cameron’s bag to be counterfeit. Cosette denies selling Cameron a counterfeit bag.
Several women interviewed for this article recounted experiences they had buying bags. They thought the bag was genuine, but later suspected it was a “superfake.” Superfake bags are high-quality knockoffs, as opposed to the cheap, obviously fake knockoffs sold on the tourist market, which are harder to tell apart from the real thing. But there is a way around it.
Cosette has a store in The Rocks, Sydney, and an online store. According to a written statement in response to detailed questions from the newspaper, Cosette insists it only sells genuine bags purchased through “authorised dealers, retailers, brokers and franchisees” in Europe.
“All bags we sell are 100% authentic, and we make every effort to verify the authenticity of every product we offer,” the company’s customer service team wrote in several emails to women, a sentiment they echoed in responses to questions for this article, which was co-written with A Current Affair.
However, these women, as well as some industry experts, believe that while Cosette sells some genuine designer items, they are actually selling high-quality replicas that are very close in price to the original bags.
Milana Demina (left) and Irene Kostopoulos, two women who claim to have bought the forgeries from Cosette. Image courtesy of Simon Schluter
With proof that the bag was counterfeit, Cameron contacted Cosette, who said they could double-check her bag or refund her money under the seven-day return policy. “They just wanted me to file for a refund and that was it,” Cameron said. She hopes she can help other women in a similar situation.
Cosette denies that Cameron’s refund amounted to an admission that the bag was counterfeit: “While (not because) the customer mistakenly believed the bags were counterfeit… we immediately refunded the full amount in accordance with Cosette’s return policy or out of good faith because we care about customer satisfaction. Any claim that we sell counterfeit bags or that these returns imply an admission that we sell counterfeit bags is false,” the company said in a statement.
Milana De Mina, a 35-year-old stylist from Melbourne, bought a Prada bag from Cosette in April for $1,767, only to discover it was a fake when she received it. “Their prices are very reasonable,” she said. “For some brands, it makes sense. I’ve been to the Prada store in Hong Kong and you can get good stuff there for cheap.”
In June 2022, De Mina purchased a Jacquemus bag from Cosette for $870 and was convinced it was authentic. But when she opened the black nylon Prada Re-Edition 2005 bag, she smelled a strange odor of “plastic and chemicals.” De Mina contacted Cosette, but did not issue a certificate herself. Cosette assured her the bag was authentic but offered to refund her money anyway.
Demina’s friend, Erin Kostopoulos, 39, a marketing manager, owned a black Gucci Marmont camera bag for two years before realizing it might be a fake. “I was very careful and thought through everything before I bought it,” she said.
Kostopoulos purchased the bag from Cosette in July 2021 for $1,500, well below the $2,300 suggested retail price at the time. “It’s not so cheap that it’s suspicious, and it makes me think they’re getting it from a vendor.”
After the Prada bag incident, Demina Kostopoulos decided to have her Gucci bag independently verified. The result: it was a fake. She complained to Cosette, which confirmed the authenticity but still agreed to a refund.
Cosette has denied the “authenticity results” obtained by Kostopoulos and Cameron. The company said that when the women returned the bags, they were sent for re-inspection to “reconfirm the authenticity of the products.” Cosette said: “Third-party authentication agencies may come to different results based on different photographs. Cosette stands behind the authenticity of its products, and any claim that Cosette has falsified authenticity or mixed counterfeit with the real thing is false.”
Several women who spoke to the newspaper said they had lodged complaints with the state Department of Consumer Affairs. However, a spokesman for Fair Trading in New South Wales said Cosette was not included in the state’s complaints register, which lists all businesses that receive 10 or more complaints a month.
We reached out to the luxury brands mentioned in the article for comment, but all declined to comment or did not respond by deadline.
The Prada Re-Edition 2005 nylon bag is a favorite among celebrities and street style enthusiasts alike. Image source: Getty
The booming secondary market for designer goods is driving huge demand for authentication services. Alex Leung worked in risk management for a bank five years ago before co-founding Melbourne-based designer resale company The Purse Affair with his wife, which also offers handbag authentication services. While many authenticators rely on photography and artificial intelligence to confirm the authenticity of items, Leung combines physical and digital processes. These processes cover everything from checking font size and serial numbers to the depth of engraving and the number of pins on a piece.
He said there were some telltale signs of a fake, but acknowledged they were becoming increasingly difficult to spot. “The more valuable (the bag) is, the more attention we pay to it,” he said. He said the counterfeit “industry” was like “cybersecurity, it’s constantly changing, constantly changing.” But he said there was no substitute for human expertise. Mr Liang could spot a fake Hermès Birkin, especially if it came with an authenticity card, which does not exist.
The challenge with AI-based identity verification — like any other type of identity verification — is that it’s not foolproof, Leung said. “(AI) is a great tool, but if the gun falls into the wrong hands… I can verify the authenticity of the real gun (but sell a fake one),” he said.
Entrupy, one of the world’s largest AI-powered authentication agencies, has verified around $50 million worth of luxury handbags in Australia. According to founder Vidyut Srinivasan, around 5.7% of the packages were categorized as “unauthenticated,” meaning Entrupy was unable to verify their authenticity. The most common brands in this category include Goyard, Dior, Prada, Saint Laurent, and Gucci.
Srinivasan said the Entrupy database was built from millions of samples, some of which he had purchased himself on the black market for research purposes. He acknowledged that the problem of super-fakes is growing, partly due to youth demand for designer goods. While quality is improving, he said over Zoom, “there is a ceiling.” “Counterfeiters rely on the free-rider principle, exploiting other brands. They want to make the best product possible, but they want to make it as cheap as possible.”
Counterfeiting, he said, not only often involves criminal networks and slave labor, but can also use dangerous materials, including toxic chemicals. “What people don’t realize is that when these things rub against your skin, they can cause immediate damage,” Srinivasan said.
Kimberly Stamatis, assistant secretary for customs and trade policy at the Australian Border Force, echoed that view. “It’s a serious health issue… People think [counterfeit goods] are a victimless crime, but it’s also a health and safety risk.”
Last fiscal year, Border Patrol seized more than 88,000 counterfeit items, including auto parts, electronics, drugs and, of course, handbags, with a combined value of more than $32 million, depending on the authenticity of the item.
Nikita Chen, 21, founder of Legitgrails, added that luxury brands are fighting back, including by investing in blockchain and other technologies to embed authentication tools into bags to combat counterfeiting. He believes the counterfeit problem will be significantly reduced by 2030.
Caroline Di Russo of Luxury Certification Australia said counterfeiters were even copying luxury brand bags. Image source: Bloomberg
Despite efforts by brands and law enforcement to combat counterfeiting, large volumes of increasingly sophisticated counterfeit goods continue to enter the online marketplace, said Caroline Di Russo, a lawyer and co-founder of Luxury Authentication Australia. “I’ve seen counterfeit Chanel bags with counterfeit tissues, counterfeit boxes… counterfeit shopping bags,” she said, “and the quality is getting better and better.”
She agrees that the only way to guarantee a bag is authentic is to buy it from the brand’s store, although there are cases of “return fraud” — buying a real bag and then returning a fake one. The phenomenon even inspired Kirstin Chen’s 2022 novel, Counterfeits.
Still, DiRusso doesn’t want the proliferation of fakes to discourage people from buying used items. “There’s no 100 percent way to tell,” she said. “But … if it’s authenticated, it’s probably been verified by an expert, which should give you some peace of mind.”
That’s what Nina Pitt, a 39-year-old human resources worker, thought when she bought a Prada bag from department store Cosette in March. She kept the bag in her closet, ready for future trips abroad. As Easter approached, she saw people complaining about the Cosette on Facebook. She checked the bag’s certificate of authenticity, but it had an error message, and she realized there might be a problem.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s just a copy,” she said. “A friend bought the same bag – she just used it and took it seriously.”
Pete, from Brisbane, asked Real Authentication to re-test her bag after the company found it to be counterfeit. “I was really sad,” she said. Pete hoped that because she paid via PayPal, she would have a better chance of getting her money back. She eventually challenged Cosette and got her money back. Cosette insisted that her bag was real and had been verified as authentic.
While most of the women, including Pitt, got their money back, Erin Kostopoulos said it was also an ethical issue. “I was very disappointed,” she said. “I don’t like being lied to or cheated, and it made me feel a little bit uncomfortable… If you want to buy a fake, you have to pay the ‘fake’ price. Some people save up for years to buy something that valuable. I bought this bag because I had accomplished a lot in my life and wanted to treat myself. This experience took that feeling away a little bit.”
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