Authorities Seize 10,000 Phony Israeli Faucets

Counterfeiters will take the opportunity to fake almost anything if they can get away with it — including Israeli-made water faucets. In recent days, the Customs Authority intercepted 10,000 faucets branded with the name Hamat, a veteran Israeli fixtures maker. The shipment was aboard a ship bringing in merchandise from a foreign country that was unloaded at Ashdod. The faucets included phony guarantees. The merchandise was confiscated, and an investigation has been opened into the group that tried to import it.

The investigation came in the wake of a complaint by the company that it was the victim of counterfeiting; this was not the first time the Israeli brand had detected fake faucets in the market. Hamat said that the fake faucets would likely have led to the layoff of workers at its factories in Israel, as the market would have been flooded with the cheaper fakes, sold at the expense of the original, better merchandise.

Commenting on the confiscation, Hamat said that it would continue to “act aggressively against anyone that tries to counterfeit our product and our good name. Customers who buy these cheaper, faker alternatives are the victims, as they cannot get service if there is a problem. We will use all the means at our disposal to end this phenomenon.”