City of London Police warned British consumers to be vigilant of potentially lethal counterfeit cosmetics laced with toxic chemicals including cyanide and other counterfeit items that entered the market under the guise of leading brands being sold online.
Recently, the police in Britain uncovered operations by counterfeit sellers using unhygienic laboratories based underground to produce fake cosmetic products which include ingredients such as cyanide and mercury, according to the Daily Mail.
The bogus cosmetic items once packaged as leading brands such as MAC and Urban Decay are sold through websites online. Police told the publication that fake items were sold on such sites as eBay and Amazon.
Reports of the recent findings claim that users of such fake cosmetic goods faced long term health issues along with severe allergic reactions to the unapproved products.
More than 4,000 cosmetic items were recovered by Britain's Police in a shipping container recently, which included counterfeit MAC products such as eye shadow, foundation and lip gloss.
The City of London Police advised consumers to be vigilant of not only counterfeit cosmetics but also items including electronic beauty products such as hair straighteners and curlers.
Police claimed the counterfeit goods which do not meet regular safety standards could prove to be fire hazards and prone to overheating.
Laboratory tests according to the British publication revealed that counterfeit perfumes contained cyanide and in some instance even human urine.
Maria Woodall, Detective Superintendent of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit told the Telegraph that criminals were using every opportunity to fool buyers into ordering counterfeit goods online.
She added that not only did these illegal products cause serious health concerns, but by ordering them online through counterfeit websites, consumers placed personal financial information at risk as well.