CRIMINAL gangs selling counterfeit household goods are being targeted by a new agency amid fears that the fakers are switching from designer goods to the growing market in soaps, washing powder, coffee, batteries and disinfectant.

Popular brands being copied include Dove, Nescafé, Daz, Persil, Bold and Dettol. Fake packs of Duracell batteries and Gillette razors are also in circulation.

The Brands Group, which is funded by the Department of Trade and Industry and brings together manufacturers, police and trading standards officers, has been set up to share intelligence. Detectives fear that the lives of consumers could be put at risk by products that have not been subjected to quality controls or safety standards.

Graham Satchwell, the group’s chairman, said that police carried out their first raids on marketholders selling fake household goods two months ago. “Manufacturers are becoming aware of how to make a lot of money from this sort of crime,” he said. “Household products are fast-moving, high-sale products, which means that you can make a quick sale and move on to another market, keeping one step ahead of the authorities.

“The public needs to be made aware of the threat these goods pose to their health.”

Britain’s counterfeit goods trade is estimated to be worth £10 billion and fake household products can be found at markets, car boot sales and discount warehouse sales.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Group, a coalition of manufacturers, has collated evidence suggesting that fake products can cause health problems. These included a washing powder so caustic that it burnt skin, razors so rough that they left abrasions and perfume made from urine.

Counterfeiters concentrate on perfecting packaging to dupe the consumer into thinking they are buying a legitimate product. Tell-tale signs of fakes are the absence of a manufacturer’s guarantee and cheap prices.

Ruth Orchard, of the Anti-Counterfeiting Group, said that a batch of fake Dettol found in markets across the country came in a convincing bottle. “It looked exactly like Dettol, but the first clue was that the top did not work properly and it was leaking. There was the most disgusting smell of chemicals whereas Dettol has a fresh, clinical smell. Goodness knows what was in it, but it was on sale all over the place and must have gone into many homes.”

The latest figures from the European Union, which collates seizures by Revenue & Customs, show that the market in all categories of fake goods rose by 12 per cent last year. Police raids in northwest England recently identified five suspected duplicating factories.

Goods can be produced cheaply because criminal gangs are not paying tax, cash into pension funds or investment on research and development. Many products are manufactured in the Far East, Africa and Eastern Europe before being smuggled into Britain.

The National Criminal Intelligence Service says that gangs involved in terrorism, drugs and pornography are also involved in counterfeit goods.

United Wholesale Grocers, one of Scotland’s biggest cash and carry outlets, was fined £1,500 for supplying fake Bold washing powder. It had 13 tonnes of it in stock and was alerted to a problem only when a customer complained that the powder did not wash clothes properly. The company then spotted that Procter & Gamble’s address in Weybridge was written “Waybridge” on the packaging and instructions for use were in Finnish.

Yasir Choudhary, of United Wholesale, warned other companies it was easy to be duped. His bought the consignment for £12,000 in good faith from a regular buyer, he said. The supplier, however, had acquired the items from a secondary source. The company is now setting up checks on goods to ensure that other fakes are not passed off to them.

Smaller outlets have been told to take extra care as they could be at greater risk of being sold fake goods as more middlemen are involved in their supply chain.

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