LV= Home Insurance Warns Against Online Shopping

According to the latest research carried out by LV= Insurance, a registered trademark of Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society Limited, UK citizens will spend approximately £132 million buying counterfeit Christmas presents online this winter. The survey was performed by Opinium Research on behalf of LV= Insurance among 2308 UK residents aged 18 and over in the beginning of November 2009. The results that the research yielded suggest that 33% of Brits will buy Christmas presents from independent sources, spending £103 on average. Out of these people, 8% will end up buying stolen goods or counterfeits. Approximately 40% of survey respondents claimed that they are more interested in value rather than in the origin of their purchase. LV= Insurance research showed that 1 in 12 online shoppers in the UK became a victim of criminals selling stolen or counterfeit goods, while every 4th shopper fails to check seller’s reputation. Online shoppers should also be aware of such facts as: mobile phones, iPods and other electronic devices sold online are oftentimes stolen or fake, goods from China, Romania and Nigeria are more likely to be counterfeits than products of other countries, and, finally, counterfeit or stolen items are not covered by home insurance. According to the statement of LV= Insurance, counterfeit or stolen goods, from which 52% of UK online shoppers hope to benefit, oftentimes turn out to be unsafe and/or unusable. The fact that these items are in no way covered by home insurance might well result in irresponsible online shoppers being left “out of pocket”. Managing director of LV= Home Insurance, Mr. O’Roarke, said that while many UK shoppers are looking for best deals online as most of them are still affected by the economic downturn, they should clearly understand that deals, which look too good to be true, are probably encouraging the black market.