Gang of 10 busted over fake international brands
A fake Ralph Lauren sweater.
A gang of 10 has been busted for selling fake imported clothes of international brands such as Ralph Lauren, Lululemon, and The North Face, Shanghai police said on Thursday.
The amount involved totaled over 20 million yuan (US$2.75 million), police said.
Last August, police in Jing'an District received a report from a customer saying clothes bought from an online store of an overseas franchise shop were suspected to be fakes.
After investigation, police found the store claimed its goods were mailed from overseas, but were actually from domestic warehouses.
The gang had two companies, police said. One was in charge of import and export trading, the other was for online marketing and after-sales services.
They operated five online stores, selling bogus goods at prices approximately 30 percent lower than market prices.
A pair of fake Lululemon trousers.
A fake The North Face T-shirt.
According to Zhang Zhenfeng, deputy head of the economic crime investigation detachment of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau's Jing'an branch, to make the scheme more real, the gang transported domestically produced clothing to Hong Kong, Macau, and other overseas locations before importing them through locally registered companies.
"They paid Customs duties when 'importing' fake clothes," Zhang said.
"After obtaining real import and export documents, the gang conducted large-scale online sales through livestreaming on e-commerce platforms, such as Douyin."
At the same time, they used overseas accounts to transfer and wash their illegal gains, Zhang said.
He also said that during the investigation, police officers found that three of their online stores on the Douyin platform were banned for selling fake products.
However, they then use other companies to resume operations, which became crucial evidence of their deliberate intention to "knowingly sell fake goods," Zhang said.
On December 12 last year, with the assistance of police officers in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, Jing'an police cracked the gang and apprehended 10 suspects with 20,000 pieces of counterfeit branded clothing seized.
Investigations are ongoing, police said.
The fake goods transported overseas were re-imported and shipped from bonded warehouses.
