Suspects held in fake Swarovski case

Seven people have been caught for allegedly making or selling fake Swarovski crystal accessories, Shanghai police said on Friday.

Police in Xuhui District began an investigation in May last year after a resident told them about an online purchase of an accessory labeled as Swarovski that had quality problems and it turned out that the shop wasn't authorized to sell Swarovski products. 

The resident said the shop claimed its Swarovski products were from the brand’s stores in Macau, according to the police.

Swarovski checked the products being sold online and confirmed they were fakes, police said.

Their investigation led police to a factory in Shanwei with sales operated from Shenzhen, both cities in Guangdong Province.

The fakes were sold throughout China with some to other countries. 

The fake items were being produced at 30 yuan (US$4.3) to 90 yuan each and being sold online for 40 to 100 yuan each, according to the police.

Police seized over 200,000 pieces of fake accessories, both complete and parts, in raids in July last year. If genuine, they would have been worth over 50 million yuan, police said.

Four suspects were held during the raid, while three others turned themselves in to police by the end of November.

Five are facing criminal charges of counterfeiting registered trademarks and selling products with counterfeit registered trademarks, while the two others are under detention, police said.