ABC translation: how many fake textbooks are there in Russia
Before the new school year, companies that produce fake textbooks and manuals for schools have become more active. In July and August, two printing houses that printed counterfeit textbooks in large volumes were already shut down. And publishers have started offering rewards for detecting fake manuals. Izvestia investigated how much counterfeit there is on the market of books and textbooks and how to deal with it.
How many fake textbooks are there in Russia
The activation of pirates who produce fake textbooks and manuals for elementary and secondary schools was announced by the publishing house of the Prosveshchenie Group of Companies.
"The Group of Companies will pay a monetary reward in the amount of up to 500 thousand rubles or up to 10% of the value of the confiscated counterfeit literature released under our output data. Remuneration is paid for information about manufacturers and customers of such products," the company's website says.
Remuneration will be paid if the information serves as the basis for initiating a criminal case under Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on copyright infringement or Article 180 on the illegal use of means of individualization of goods.
The press service of the Prosveshchenie Group of Companies told Izvestia that the urgency of the problem is growing every year, and the counterfeit market is estimated at "millions of copies" every year. This applies not only to textbooks. So, in 2023, Eksmo-AST said that the turnover of counterfeit copies of paper books from Russian publishers amounted to about 1 billion rubles in just eight months of the year. A Litnet study in 2024 showed that 95% of authors in Russia had experienced illegal distribution of their books.
One of the most famous examples of fiction forgery is the publications of the Harry Potter series published by Rosman, which have acquired a cult status among Potteromaniacs. Books are being resold for a lot of money, which has attracted pirates in this area. Moreover, Rosman officially stopped publishing books in the early 2010s, when the publisher lost the rights to the series.
Speaking about the market for counterfeit textbooks, Andrey Krichevsky, chairman of the Russian Center for the Turnover of Creative Rights, notes that it is not so large because textbooks are mostly purchased centrally with money from regional budgets.
"According to my estimate, about 10% of all educational literature (about 5 billion rubles) is bought with parents' money, and counterfeiting is made in the amount of about 500 million," he told Izvestia. — Collecting statistics on book counterfeiting is difficult due to the regional fragmentation of the market and the fact that transactions are carried out without official registration. The scale can be judged by the cases when the police still detect shipments of fakes.
The market for educational literature, which is not included in the federal list, is even more difficult to assess: business is almost entirely conducted in a gray area. According to the expert, there are many small publishers working there, semi-legal reprints are underway, and some publications initially look controversial from the point of view of copyright. Andrey Krichevsky estimates the volume of this market at 5-7 billion rubles.
"The problem of counterfeit books becomes especially acute on the eve of the new school year, when families are preparing children for school," said Prosveshchenie. — Every year, on the eve of September 1, we assist law enforcement agencies in carrying out measures to identify and clear the market of counterfeit educational products. So, in July – August 2025, law enforcement officers stopped the activities of two printing houses in the south of Russia.
One of these printing houses was shut down in the Rostov region in July. Then it turned out that educational literature was being produced in the printing house without the consent of the copyright holder, which was sold in bulk. About 106 thousand copies worth 50 million rubles were seized. Information about the second, August, incident was not publicly disclosed, Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
A separate problem, says Andrey Krichevsky, is the market for counterfeit textbooks, which he also estimates at 5-7 billion rubles.
What are the dangers of fake textbooks?
The press service of the Prosveshchenie Group of Companies points out that the sanitary rules and regulations approved for textbooks and manuals are much stricter than for other types of printed products.
— The SanPiN for the release of pirated textbooks is not respected. Cheap ink and paper are used to save money in printing counterfeit products. Toxic dyes can cause allergies and more serious irritation in a child, and poor printing leads to a decrease in visual acuity, the company noted.
The content is usually copied, but it may not contain the latest changes made taking into account the new federal state educational standards. So there is also the possibility of encountering false information.
"In addition, the creation and distribution of counterfeit goods violates copyright laws, and the proceeds from such products often go to finance other illegal activities," the company said.
Andrey Krichevsky believes that there is probably no direct danger to the consumer: after all, these are not food products. In the worst case, you can get an outdated version under the guise of a new edition.
"However, even if the quality of books is tolerable, such piracy damages the publishing business and deprives the industry of legitimate earnings," he stressed.
Where counterfeit textbooks are sold
The Prosveshchenie Group noted that fraudsters use every opportunity to distribute pirated textbooks, but in recent years there has been a tendency to increase the spread of counterfeit goods through marketplaces. The publishing house cooperates with online platforms to develop measures to curb the appearance of such products. Andrey Krichevsky notes that such products are available on all major marketplaces.
— The marketplace is very easy to access, and the platform usually has neither the resources nor the authority to prevent the spread of fakes. By the time the complaint arrives, the seller will have already sold a large batch," the expert said. — This is a common problem of digital trading platforms, which, I hope, will be solved within the framework of the upcoming regulation, which is currently being actively discussed on various expert platforms.
There is also the sale of counterfeit textbooks through social networks, Andrei Krichevsky continues. They are also distributed through small shops and markets, mainly in the regions, especially in Siberia and the Far East.
How to solve the problem
Boris Ilyukhin, a senior researcher at the Center for Economics of Continuing Education at the Presidential Academy, notes that the vast majority of textbooks are now purchased through the government procurement mechanism under 44-FZ, so such counterfeit is quite easy to track, and it most likely will not get into schools.
Experts emphasize that the problem can be solved after the rule of labeling textbooks is extended to the entire market. So far, this is just an experiment that started on April 1, 2024, and will end on August 31, 2025. It is expected that rules for mandatory labeling will be developed based on the results. The operator of the experiment is the Center for the Development of Advanced Technologies (CRPT). The CRPT told Izvestia that more than 50 companies took part in the experiment: in addition to Prosveshchenie, these are Vysshaya Shkola, Pareto-Print, the Deviz printing complex and other major players.
— More than 420 thousand textbooks have already been marked, and almost 5.7 thousand have been registered in the Honest Sign system. companies (printing houses, publishing houses, trade organizations and other participants in the printed products market), — noted in the CRPT.
The center refers to a study by the Higher School of Economics, according to which labeling reduces counterfeit turnover several times in a wide variety of product groups. In Russia as a whole, there has been a record decrease in illegal trafficking — from 25.9% in 2018 to 8.9% in 2023 — but the biggest decrease is in those product groups where the Honest Mark system operates. Counterfeit products decreased by 81.8% in perfumery, by 60% in water production, by 56% in tobacco products, and by 30.6% in clothing and textiles.
Izvestia sent requests to counteract the distribution of counterfeit books to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Education, as well as to a number of publishers and marketplaces.
How to distinguish a fake
There is no need to focus on a low price: it is too cheap goods that often turn out to be fake. Krichevsky points out that even outdated editions of original textbooks are rarely 30-50% cheaper than on the official website.
Studying customer reviews and product ratings on marketplaces will help. Also, take a close look at the provided textbook photos.
"A sign of pirated educational literature may be the store's assortment, which is either very limited or, conversely, very diverse, from textbooks to equipment and clothing," noted Prosveshchenie. — Also, many online stores mark trusted sellers and authentic goods with special marks indicating the originality of the products.
Visually, fake textbooks are also easy to identify: they may have blurry, pale or too dark logos and illustrations on the cover.
— The illustrations inside the textbook should also be bright, and in fake versions the image appears blurred or distorted. The text should be evenly printed, without scuffs or smudged ink. In addition, it is worth paying attention to whether the edges of the pages are even and whether there are defects in the printing, the publisher noted.
Andrey Krichevsky notes that while there is no labeling, it is important to pay attention to other details, such as the ISBN number: on the cover, it may not match the ISBN inside the book.
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