Hong Kong Customs raids online store offering presumed counterfeit products and participating in cash laundering (with images)
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Hong Kong Customs installed an unique enforcement operation on October 20 and found a case including the sale of thought fake shoes items and cash laundering by an online store. An overall of about 1 100 products of presumed fake items, consisting of shoes and clothes, with an overall projected market price of about $2 million, were taken. The believed criminal activity profits created from the sale of believed fake products associated with the case totaled up to $13 million. 2 individuals were apprehended.
Custom-mades previously gotten details from the general public, declaring that an online store was providing fake shoes for sale, and an examination was then introduced. After a thorough examination and with the help of hallmark owners, Customs officers took enforcement action on October 20 and browsed a commercial system in Tsuen Wan, leading to the seizure of the batch of thought fake items.
Fund-flow analysis exposed that one of the detained individuals was believed of utilizing business and individual bank accounts to deal with a big quantity of thought criminal offense profits. An overall of about $13 countless thought criminal offense earnings created from the sale of fake products had actually been dealt with by the jailed individual given that 2023.
Throughout the operation, a 31-year-old guy and a 29-year-old female, who are brother or sisters, were apprehended under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO) and the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance (OSCO).
An examination is continuous, and the detained individuals have actually been launched on bail pending additional examination. The probability of more arrests is not dismissed.
Custom-mades advises customers to acquire products at respectable stores or online stores and to prevent performing deals with suspicious traders. They ought to contact the hallmark owners or their authorised representatives if the credibility of an item remains in doubt.
Customs has actually been aiming to secure customer rights and performs examinations in the market and on the Internet from time to time. Customs officers utilize a big-data analytics system to bring out danger evaluations and analyses to validate whether online stores have actually complied with the TDO with a view to protecting the interests of customers throughout online purchases.
Under the TDO, anybody who offers or has for sale any items with a created hallmark dedicates an offense. The optimum charge upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and jail time for 5 years.
Under the OSCO, an individual dedicates an offense if she or he handles any home understanding or having affordable premises to think that such home, in entire or in part, straight or indirectly represents anybody’s earnings of an indictable offense. The optimum charge upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and jail time for 14 years, while the criminal offense profits are likewise based on confiscation.
Members of the general public might report any presumed counterfeiting activities and thought cash laundering activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its devoted criminal activity reporting e-mail account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online kind (eform.cefs.gov.hk/ form/ced002).