The Federal Bureau of Investigation has posted memos concerning counterfeit and potentially compromised and hazardous cosmetics and fragrances, offering tips aimed at readily identifying or avoiding unauthorized products.
Torie Hardee of EltaMD summarized that counterfeit products can sometimes be identified by lack of an expiration date on the bottle, discoloration or slightly different fonts on bottles and packaging, and the manufacturer’s address on the bottle.
Jan Marini Company representative Stuart Mohr noted that their company has received returns of products that they had not manufactured, as well as their own current or discontinued products returned years after the expiration date. The Jan Marini Co., and most other companies, will not guarantee any product purchased via nonauthorized resellers, because the authenticity and safety of such products cannot be verified.
“These unauthorized resellers are sophisticated, often even working in rings, and find it easy to hide their real identity,” said Mr. Mohr. “Addresses are often hidden or vague; emails are not linked to any specific person; and it’s easy to use false names. If a person is caught in an unauthorized online transaction, it’s easy to change the email address or name and start again,” he added.
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FBI’s tips for spotting counterfeit cosmetics and fragrances
• The product is a sample size.
• The packaging differs slightly from the authentic brand (different color or font).
• The product’s wrapping appears haphazard.
• The product is being advertised as a “limited edition” even though the authentic manufacturer doesn’t offer it as a limited edition.
• The product is not listed on the manufacturer’s website.
• The price is drastically lower than the MSRP.
• The product’s consistency or texture doesn’t feel or look like the authentic brand.
• For fragrances, something seems off about the scent, and the color of the fluid in the bottle might be different than the original.
• They are being sold at nonauthorized retailers, including flea markets and discount stores.
• The label does not contain lot number, bar code, manufacturer’s address, or expiration date.
Expired products
Unscrupulous online retailers may slash prices on expired products and remove the expiration date from the package. In my practice, a patient experiencing an erythematous reaction brought in the “SkinMedica” product bottle, which looked suspicious to me. The packaging that the product was in had been discontinued 8 years earlier. It is important to remember that ingredients, particularly retinol, degrade with exposure to air, sun, and heat, and over time. This is most likely what caused my patient’s adverse reaction, and her initial savings from the product caused her several weeks of irritated skin.
Diverted products
SkinMedica reports that diverted products are a trickier issue than counterfeit products, because their packaging and formulas are sufficiently complex to make counterfeiting too difficult to be profitable. Instead, their products have been sold on the so-called gray market below the manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP), typically online. In these cases, the company cannot help patients with returns or complaints because they cannot verify the chain of custody of the purchased product. They are addressing this problem, though, with an awareness campaign called “Authentic and Authorized.” Its goal is to alert patients and the physicians who dispense their products of the benefits of a physician-dispensed model of skin care, with best outcomes achieved when doctors are prescribing a skin care regimen. SkinMedica emphasizes that no website can guarantee outcomes comparable to a skin care professional and product quality and safety can only be enforced when dispensed through authorized channels.
Potentially illegal or toxic ingredients
Several products that have entered the United States marketed as skin lighteners, antiaging agents, and acne treatment products have been found to contain mercury, according to a consumer update from the FDA. Arsenic, lead, beryllium, and other harmful toxins as well as allergy-inducing fragrances or preservatives not approved as safe in the U.S. may also be found in such products of dubious origin.
Improper storage
Products purveyed online are often stored in hot warehouses. As mentioned above, heat degrades and alters ingredients, rendering compounds such as retinol, benzoyl peroxide, peptides, and ascorbic acid worthless. Extreme cold can also damage the chemical integrity of products. Notably, organic products are more vulnerable because they lack preservatives to gird them against temperature variations and microbes that grow in hot, damp environments.
Lookalike imposters
Generic formulations are packaged to piggyback onto the success of well-known products. Such products found in drugstores may be packaged to look like Cetaphil or Aveeno items, but cost less, and deliver less. While the ingredients on the copycats are identical to those found in the branded preparations, the order in which ingredients are added, the temperature, pH, and even when and how fast ingredients are stirred are part of the proprietary recipe of the company and play a significant role in the potential of the end product and the actions the product exerts on the skin.