The state attorney general’s office gets most of its headlines prosecuting criminal cases or starting — or getting pulled into — high-profile political legal fights. However, some recent, lower-profile cases can be just as important as the headline grabbers for protecting Alaskans.

The cases are about protecting Alaska’s economically vital tourism economy and everyone who works in it.

And protecting the estimated 3 million people a year who visit the state and often buy gifts to take home.

The cases involve fraud by gift shop operators who misrepresented the authenticity — actually, the lack of authenticity — of the items they were selling. That kind of dishonest profiteering violates the shoppers’ trust and tarnishes every business in the state.

The consumer protection section at the attorney general’s office uses undercover “shoppers” to look for misrepresentations, such as claiming items are made in Alaska when they are made in another state or even another country. Some call it a sting, but the only person who gets stung is the shop owner who isn’t telling the truth — and that’s the point.

A Ketchikan gift shop owner struck a deal with the state this month and will pay a $10,000 fine and promise never to do it again after he was caught selling “naturally occurring gold quartz” from Alaska which turned out was manufactured in Germany. That was 2023. He was caught again in 2025 selling “locally sourced” gold quartz that wasn’t locally anything.

His defense to investigators was that the vendor who sold him the items was standing in the store when he was paid, which by the way the shop owner figures makes it “locally sourced.” After talking with investigators, he said he now knows better.

The attorney general’s office this month announced a settlement in a similar case, accepting $20,000 from a jewelry company that operates in Ketchikan, Juneau and two locations in Skagway. That 2025 case also involved the sale of yes, you guessed it, fake gold quartz advertised as genuine from Alaska.

And in March, the attorney general’s office reached a $60,000 settlement in a lawsuit against a jewelry retailer in Ketchikan which sold — yes, again — man-made gold quartz that was promoted as nature-made in Alaska. The items were made by a company in California.

Thankfully, there is nothing fake about the work of the consumer protection section to catch the real fakes that jeopardize the integrity of Alaska’s tourism industry. And while visitor dollars brighten up Alaska’s economy, all that glitters is not real.