It's car boot season and when we are wandering around, hoping for a bargain it will be all to easy to fall prey to the rogues who sell fake stuff.

Some of the sellers will be genuine people selling second hand stuff from their house that they want to get rid of and make a few quid.

Other sellers will be professional carbooters who do the rounds of the car boot sales and buy and sell goods specifically for this purpose.

Unfortunately for the unsuspecting there may also be the scammers!

These are the people selling illegal, counterfeit products. These goods not only damage the big brand names they may also be dangerous, there have been documented serious injuries caused by faulty goods being bought.

Here are 5 tips to help ensure you don't get hoodwinked into buying fake stuff, ( in this case phones but the general advice can apply to most things) 

1. Price - If it seems to good to be true it is ( you cannot buy a genuine apple phone for £100 ) 
2. Packaging - the big brands sell their goods in quality packaging which they spend alot of money on, Real , genuine goods will come in real genuine packaging, not cheap, shoddy boxes. 
3. Glass cases - this aplies to phones, genuine phones have glass onthe front and reverse which you can feel in the weight, counterfit ones will be cheaper and lighter plastic. 
4. IMEI numbers, found inside the casing or etched onto the phone somewhere, chaeck it out with the company to see if it is real. 
5. Graphics - on genuine phones are sharp and crisp, counterfeits will not be as sharply defined and will be slower. 

There is undoubtedly one rule. 

If in doubt and you are not 100% convinced it is genuine DON"T buy it,