Sunglasses Brand 'Ray-Ban' Impersonation Cases Surge... "Be Especially Cautious During Summer"

Main screen view of a Ray-Ban impersonation website.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] #Mr. A saw an advertisement on social networking service (SNS) in May claiming a discount on sunglasses brand 'Ray-Ban' products and accessed a certain website. The advertisement stated that three products were being sold at a low price of about 90,000 won, so Mr. A hurriedly made a purchase, but the delivery never arrived. When he accessed the site again, it had already been closed.

Recently, consumer damage caused by fraudulent sites impersonating the famous sunglasses brand ‘Ray-Ban’ is increasing, requiring caution.

According to the Korea Consumer Agency on the 29th, a total of 86 consumer consultations related to ‘Ray-Ban’ impersonation sites were received by the agency in the past six months (January 1 to June 6), and the number of consultations continues to rise.

Consumer consultations related to ‘Ray-Ban’ impersonation sites were 33 cases in January and February, decreased to 6 cases in March, but showed an increasing trend again with 13 cases in April and 27 cases in May. Considering that consumer damage related to sunglasses mainly occurs in summer, additional damage is a concern.

Examining the 86 consumer consultations, consumers mostly encountered the impersonation sites through SNS discount advertisements, and the URLs of the impersonation sites commonly included ‘rb’. Also, the main pages of the sites were identical or very similar, suggesting that the same operator repeatedly opens and closes sites to cause damage.

To prevent related damage, consumers are advised to avoid purchasing through SNS posts with large discount advertisements and to check for suspicious fraudulent sites by searching the keyword ‘rb’ on the International Consumer Portal before purchasing.

If a consumer suffers fraud damage such as site closure and loss of contact, non-delivery of goods, or delivery of counterfeit products after trading on an impersonation shopping mall, they can secure evidence (transaction details, emails exchanged with the operator) and apply for a chargeback service through their credit card company.

The Korea Consumer Agency urged consumers to prevent overseas direct purchase fraud by ▲verifying the official website address of overseas famous brand products ▲checking for damage cases by searching reviews if the site sells products at excessively low prices or does not disclose operator contact information ▲using credit cards (or check cards) that allow chargeback service when purchasing products ▲and requesting help from the International Consumer Portal if the damage is not resolved smoothly.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.