Elfbar clamps down on fake e-cigarettes in South Africa

Chinese disposable e-cigarette producer Elfbar has teamed up with regulators in South Africa on a major operation against counterfeits of its products, as part of its global crackdown on illicit products.

Raids took place in Johannesburg and Cape Town in July, leading to the seizures of 3,600 fake and substandard vapes with potential health risks, mainly copies of Elfbar's older discontinued products.

In both cities, Elfbar issued warning letters to over 15 stores, of which 13 already signed a commitment document to cease sales of infringing products. These stores also surrendered a total of 1,100 counterfeit vapes, which the company said would be destroyed.

"Elfbar remains unwavering in offering ever-upgrading vaping solutions, flavours catering to adult users' diversified needs, and most importantly steadfast in our commitment in elevating safety and quality standards industry-wise," said Lauren Huang, Elfbar's general manager for the Middle East and Africa.

"Counterfeits place in jeopardy the dedication of ours and the whole industry's to harm reduction through innovation," she added." These fake vapes, which contain unknown and untested substances, expose adult smokers and ex-smokers to serious health risks."

The company claims to have shut down more than 220 businesses involved in the illicit trade, including some manufacturing operations, since making a concerted effort to crack down on counterfeiters in the middle of 2021.

Like other vape manufacturers plagued by falsification of their products, the company has rolled out security labels to try to help users verify its products before use. The labels contain a scratch-off panel that reveals an 18-digit serial number that can be inputted into a website and a QR code that can be scanned with a mobile phone.

Neither of those ant-counterfeit approaches are particularly robust, not least because awareness and usage of these systems tend to be low among consumers. Moreover, counterfeiters have been known to put spoof QR codes on fakes that direct to their own websites and deliver a positive verification result.