Police crack down on sales of fake goods

Police across the country have cracked more than 1,900 cases involving online sales of counterfeit goods this year while carrying out related campaigns launched by the Ministry of Public Security, the ministry said.

In a statement issued shortly before the "Double 11" online shopping event, which falls on Nov 11 every year, the ministry said police have closely followed key facilitators such as livestreams and e-commerce platforms, to crack down on counterfeit sales.

They have focused on goods that tend to generate more consumer complaints, including food, medicine, makeup, electric devices and products for children, the ministry said.

As online counterfeit sales are highly clandestine and involve a long industrial chain, police have thoroughly investigated the production and sale of fake products and have punished organizers, operators and those who have profited from it, the ministry said.

The ministry also revealed 10 cases in which online sellers of counterfeit goods were caught.

One case involved sales of cellphones that had been reassembled from various parts and were then sold as famous brand name phones.

From June 2021 to earlier this year, the suspects, including one surnamed Zheng, bought large quantities of parts from secondhand cellphones and made new phones from them. They also purchased fake bar codes, labels and packages of well-known brands.

Then they sold as many as 17,000 fake-branded cellphones through online stores.

In June this year, police in Huainan, Anhui province, received reports about the phones and an investigation led to the arrest of nine suspects.

Another case cracked by police in Heze, Shandong province, involved the production and sale of pirated toys.

An investigation revealed that from November 2019 to earlier this year, a person surnamed Yang and other suspects had registered several companies to produce a large number of toys infringing on copyrights and sold them online and at brick-and-mortar stores.

After receiving reports from companies that had learned of the crime in June this year, Heze police arrested 29 suspects and seized more than 100,000 pirated toys at production sites.

The other eight cases unveiled by the Ministry of Public Security involved sales of fake-branded clothes, tires, makeups and other products.

The ministry said it will continue operating special campaigns targeting counterfeit products, intensify efforts to combat online sales of such products and better protect the rights of consumers and companies.

It also reminded consumers to be vigilant as they shopped during "Double 11".