CHENNAI, INDIA: To enlighten its partners to differentiate between original and spurious products, Kingston is planning to issue an advisory to its partners across the nation.

Last week, Salem IT Association (SITA) nabbed a person named Saalem, who was selling duplicate Kingston pen-drives, on whom FIR was filed.

JJ Santhosh, regional manager, Kingston, South India, said, “It has come to our knowledge that there are some people selling fake pen drives in Mangalore and Karnataka. We have alerted our channel partners in the region and are trying to nab him.”

According to Vishal Parekh, marketing manager—APAC Business Division, Kingston, the proposed advisory will be highlighting three key points, which the company says is applicable to all other brands too. Buying from authorized partners, insisting on invoice/cash memo/bill, on which the shop’s name is printed, checking for manufactured/imported by and distributor’s name on the package, if it’s not manufactured in India.

Parekh added, “As for Kingston products, there is a serial number on every package. Peopel can go online and type in the serial number to check if the product is original or not.”

He lauded SITA for its ethics and dynamism towards selling only original products.

“Be it any product or any brand, all of a sudden if a person is selling at 10-15 times lower than the market price, the buyer, end-user or partner, should become cautious,” he further said. Kingston has been receiving such news for the past three-four weeks and similar incidents are being reported from countries like China and Malaysia.

“The package and holograms found on counterfeits suggest that the products are made in China. It’s shocking because packages of Kingston products (sold in India) do not have holograms,” Parekh noted.