Knock off Gucci handbags and fake Rolex watches may be harder to find if a new task force is successful in combating the sale of counterfeit goods, a $23 billion annual industry in the city.

The city’s comptroller, William Thompson Jr., said yesterday that he would target the ubiquitous illegal sales, which in 2003 cost the city more than $1 billion in tax revenue, according to a report the comptroller’s office released last fall.

“Counterfeiting undermines the notion of fairness for those who pay taxes, and endangers the future prosperity of the city’s businesses and creative community,” Mr. Thompson said yesterday at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where he addressed the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

A task force will begin meeting in November to develop a plan to fight the sales, Mr. Thompson said. The committee comprises top executives from law enforcement and the recording industry, as well as anti-piracy experts.

The comptroller said any solution to counterfeiting could involve not only improved law enforcement but also heightened scrutiny of the city’s port, where illegal goods arrive from overseas.

Yet a crucial element of the effort, he said, may be getting the message to the public.

“You may save something there,” Mr. Thompson said he would tell consumers, “but you’re looking at lost revenue to the city of New York, and you’ll wind up digging deeper into your pocket in taxes.”

As Canal Street bustled yesterday with tourists and New Yorkers shopping under sunny skies, vendors said they were not worried about news of a coming crackdown. One said the city stood to lose more than it would gain.

“If you’re not selling fake watches, then you’ll lose the tourists,” a man selling perfume and cologne near Lafayette Street, Mohammed Khan, 25, said.

Another vendor, Ali Abid, worried that enforcement of counterfeiting could hurt legitimate vendors. “If the people don’t come, then we have a problem,” said Mr. Abid, 27, a competitor down the street.