But one of the biggest friends to that brand image on their profit is counterfeit products.

I know when I was making my teenage is I bought to make on Facebook, which I reckon was fake.

Now I feel like it's actually a much bigger issue than we realized.

Chloe and I have both bought counterfeit makeup in the past, So today we're meeting up with a private investigator who works with these big brands to get these products off the streets.

Going undercover today, I just can't wait till I can wait in.

The place is going on so not everyone can afford, obviously, the high end of more expensive bronze.

Why Daphne Concert, where people would be tempted to buy counterfeit makeup.

I could totally understand why big companies do you work hunting home with the place because of the end of the day.

They're just want to protect their business and their profits.

Hey, girls, what exactly is it that you do then?

Our job is working with brand owners, usually the brand's contact because they've gotten a tip or they heard about issues in the area.

Which type of bronze have you worked with?

So far, we've worked with brands like L'Oreal and Chanel and Mac.

Most of our clients are not interested in the cellar.

They want to get to distributors and the people that they're buying from.

Once we authenticate the goods, counterfeit will go back with the letter called a cease desist letter.

We use that as leverage to try and get that retailer who's selling counterfeit goods to tell us where they're getting the product from.

So we're gonna send you girls undercover.

I'm gonna get you guys geared up with cameras.

Once you get out there, act normal.

You guys obviously blend in very well.

That's why we picked you to go into cover down here.

Ask them to show you around, and the more you ask for the person's help and you play dumb, the more information they're gonna give you do your best to kind of make sure you get some good photos of the actual product.

Look for any kind of misspellings or information that packing that looks a little bit off.

Any questions?

No, I'm excited.

Great.

Get it done.

Yeah, that was good.

James Joyce Pollock.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

How much money?

Just fine.

I want to get something.

You have your Could I get this one?

So, what'd you guys find?

All of the big funds for that we got Carly cosmetics.

James Charles.

Yeah, and I have this pallet of home.

So as someone that's in the space, what do you think of the product?

What does it look like?

You can tell by looking at its vic.

You know, look at that image on the back.

But not everyone would know that they claim to have the real one for an extra $5 really s.

Oh, so they told you the real one's an extra $5 so they're pretty much telling you this is not the real thing.

Yeah, but there were three items for, like, $10 when in a normal world like three items would listen.

He calls like, $60.

Look at all this one's filled.

There's something wrong with separating.

Yeah.

So what we will do is we will tag all the evidence so we can proceed with enforcement.

Great work, guys.

Most times, counterfeit makeup is so ridiculously shape on a doll's Mickey kind of wonder like what's actually inside of them.

Maybe they've been made, and we dodgy factories and have dodgy ingredients.

And then perhaps counterfeit products cost the beauty industry around $75 million a year, so I could see why they hire investigators liked him.

But I want to know if they're just protecting their profits or if there's any of us that consumers that by these counterfeits welcome, guys, this'd is our LAPD Evidence room.

Oh, wow.

Oh, my gosh, With anything in, everything you see here is basically counterfeit.

They'll all get shipped over here after we seize it.

And, you know, when it gets up to the court, then we have the evidence here after it's all done and said, All this stuff just destroyed.

And then obviously the makeups run in front of you.

So you got your Mac urban decay.

Kylie, look.

Oh, gosh.

And his brand new.

You just You're the first person that opened it.

Only words if you look carefully on some of them, they're misspelled because obviously English wasn't their first language.

So Okay, so it says, Hey, powerful pigmented shot eye shadows, shadows.

Right.

So that's the easiest way to identify something as counterfeit.

How much do people actually make?

Ah lot.

So, for example, on average street vendor they make anywhere from 6 to $10,000 a week.

That's when was $40,000 a month.

So well, they get in this pie ce from, Well, most of this stuff is obviously made overseas.

Most of that stuff, if not all of it, has high levels of bacteria.

And when we tested in the past, it had a consistent with animal feces.

Animal poop.

That's kind of you applying that's your skin in all of your face.

And so you're constantly rubbing it.

You're just like Robin and shut them pretty much.

It's just really unsettling.

I am in literal shock, so live medicine exactly like the actual Skeel of high intensity, fake counterfeit industry is I gotta rush from trying on eye shadow swatches at the warehouse, and to me, that is so alarming.

I don't really feel much sympathy towards big brand.