Ring selling fake hi-end brand products busted in Taichung

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Taichung police today (Jan. 11) raided a warehouse in Beitun District and arrested three suspects in connection with the production of fake luxury goods such as bags, shoes and clothes.

The police confiscated 1,400 fake products from the warehouse estimated at a value of NT$10 million (US$337,826).

The suspected owner of the company manufacturing the fake goods is a 25-year-old man surnamed Tsai (蔡), as well as two of his business partners, who are former classmates.

The business is reported to have generated a revenue of NT$2 million every month. 

The report also stated that the three posed as students studying and living abroad who have access to genuine hi-end brand products at a relatively cheaper price through the outlet distributor or factory-direct goods with slight damage.

Investigators said a bag from the luxury brand Totebag, which has a retail value of NT$52,000, was being sold for NT$10,000, but the actual cost to produce the bag was only NT$5,000. 

The counterfeit items are said to have been produced in factories in China, imported by the three fraudsters and then sold to customers online.

The suspects have been arrested and are to be charged with fraud and breaching the Trademark Act (商標法).

The case came to light last year when some customers sent their purchased items to the original manufacturers for examination and were told their products were fake. The customers then lodged complaints about the online company with the local police station and an investigation into the ring began. 

The investigators confirmed that after examining the products, none of them were genuine and all the imported records found in the raided warehouse suggested that the items were manufactured in China. 

source:https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3338753