The Whole Family 'Working Together', Distributing and Selling Fake Luxury Goods with 26,000 Points on SNS

Actual captured photo of Mr. A and others promoting and selling counterfeit luxury goods through Instagram live broadcasts. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office.

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] A family involved in distributing and selling counterfeit luxury goods through online live broadcasts on platforms such as Instagram has been caught.

The Special Judicial Police of the Korean Intellectual Property Office announced on the 13th that they have sent four family members to the prosecution on charges of violating the Trademark Act.

They are accused of producing over 26,000 counterfeit items (worth approximately 62.5 billion KRW based on genuine product prices), including Chanel bags, at a secret workshop disguised as a home from June 2018 to November 2019, and selling them using social networking services (SNS).

The ringleader, A (female, 34), conspired with family members (husband, older sister, younger sibling) to distribute and sell counterfeit luxury goods, taking advantage of the ease of maintaining secrecy and the low risk of internal whistleblowing or defection from the group.

In particular, A and others showed meticulousness by using SNS channels such as Instagram, which have a closed distribution structure, making it difficult for investigative agencies to access and proving the charges challenging.

However, the Special Judicial Police, noting the recent surge in cases of counterfeit goods being distributed online via SNS like A, conducted a long-term investigation and inspection over about one year and eight months, eventually uncovering the activities of A and her group.

The Special Judicial Police searched the suspects and the secret workshop, confirming A and others' crimes, and seized 1,111 counterfeit items, including fake Chanel bags, stored at the site (worth approximately 2.4 billion KRW based on genuine product prices).

They also secured sales records for over 26,000 counterfeit items sold by A and others.

Meanwhile, the Ulsan District Prosecutors' Office has arrested and indicted the ringleader A and accomplice B (A’s older sister). The first trial for A and B is scheduled for the 14th.

Separately, the Special Judicial Police plan to continue follow-up investigations into additional accomplices.

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