"The venues for the sale of counterfeit jewelry are different," Scafidi said. "There are not so many in black plastic bags on the street. They are more likely to be in shops or somewhere more discreet. You see them with other things as well, and you see a lot more online, a lot of replica sites."

Tiffany & Co.'s problem with copies is mostly with the firm's silver collection. The company has encountered fake 1837 pieces, as well as Elsa Peretti styles, namely the designer's signature heart.

"It's a growing concern," said Linda Buckley, vice president of worldwide public relations for Tiffany. "The Internet has fueled a lot of it."

Between October 2003 and January 2005, Tiffany filed a group of six lawsuits against Overstock.com for alleged infringements of some of its bracelet and necklace designs. A source said that litigation unrelated to that involving Overstockjewelry.com was resolved.

Judith Ripka ceo Ronald J. Berk said at any given time the firm has up to a dozen lawsuits pending against copyright infringers.

"We're fairly successful with knocking mom and pops out of the knockoff business," he said. "Because the costs of litigation are extreme, they'll usually settle."

Ripka requires the offenders to forfeit the goods and their books, pay Ripka the profits earned from them and also name the distributor that supplied the goods.

In a raid in May 2006, federal marshals confiscated more than 100 allegedly counterfeit Judith Ripka jewelry pieces from four companies.

"It's a chronic problem," Berk said. "Until politically it's solved, we're going to run into this. It's part of the Chinese culture to copy."

Berk has contacted other large jewelry brands in order to band together against the imitators.

"Without having the big boys leading it, it's harder for the little boys to take it on," he said.

Private investigator Andrew Oberfeldt said: "Most of the jewelry I see [during raids] is some type of fake silver, unless it's trying to be white platinum. There's not as much gold jewelry faked and not as much bejeweled jewelry. We're talking about bracelets, earrings and necklaces without jewels where the name or symbol is prevalent."