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mid an increasing amount of counterfeit cosmetics sold in markets and online shops, Jakartan women are verifying if discounted beauty products are genuine before they buy.

“Now I always study every item before buying it by observing the details of its original packaging, which can be seen on the companies’ official websites. I have had unpleasant experiences with fake ones,” said Nuri, 27.

The resident of Rawa Belong, West Jakarta, said she used to buy cosmetics from an online shop. The products, which were allegedly imported from South Korea, were 30 percent cheaper than official prices. Lured by the prospect of additional income, she sold the cosmetics to friends for several months until one customer said Nuri’s products were counterfeit. Nuri refunded Rp 150,000 (US$16.80) to the customer.

“She realized it when she examined the skin powder’s packaging at an official shop,” she said. “I bought the products from a person I met on the Internet. He offered the products at a relatively low prices.”

A report released by the Indonesian Anti-Counterfeiting Society (MIAP) said that cosmetics were most frequently counterfeited product in the country. Counterfeit cosmetics were frequently produced in homes without licenses from the Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM) or imported illegally, mostly from South Korea and China, according to the report.

Illegally imported cosmetics cost the country Rp 4.41 trillion a year, the report added. The agency previously said most counterfeit products contained mercury, hydroquinone, retinoic acid, red dyes K.3 (CL15585 and K.10 (Rhodamine B) and purple dye K.1 (CL 12075) — all coloring agents for textiles, paper and ink and potentially harmful chemicals.

There were 21 counterfeit cases reported to the BPOM in 2007, 54 cases in 2008 and 64 cases in 2009, the agency said.

City Police in February arrested two cosmetic salespersons on Jl. Pinangsia in Glodok, West Jakarta and confiscated dozens of packages of bootleg cosmetics.

The pair had affixed counterfeit Japanese labels to their homemade products and sold them at low prices, starting from Rp 15,000, police said.

One makeup user, Angela Zaskia Purnomo, 28, said: “Price is one of indicator of a fake product, even though some products have price tags that are almost identical to the original products.”

“Last week, I went to a mall in Kuningan in South Jakarta. Several cosmetic shops sold imported products from a famous brand priced from Rp 90,000 to Rp 250,000. The cheapest original product was Rp 250,000,” she said.

Angela added that many local producers with permits from the BPOM sold cosmetics that were almost as good as imported products.

“It’s best to use relatively cheaper local products, which are guaranteed by their producers, rather than using imported products without registration numbers,” she added.

Ida Marlinda, a researcher from the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), said customers should look for registered products and not trust advertisements, which might promise to lighten a woman’s skin, for example. “Only medical cosmetics can do such things and they can only be bought by prescriptions from dermatologists.” (rch)