Counterfeit Tumblers and Luxury Bags Worth 3.9 Billion KRW Seized... 95% Sold Online

Seoul Metropolitan Civil Affairs Police Unit Criminally Charges 56 for 'Trademark Act' Violations
Investigation Expands from Offline Counterfeit Sales to Online ... Over 77,000 Items Seized

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] A total of 56 merchants who sold counterfeit goods worth tens of billions of won on internet open markets and large shopping centers around Dongdaemun have been massively caught.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Life Judicial Police Unit on the 23rd, they were found to have sold or stored a total of 77,269 counterfeit items, including fake tumblers with forged logos of famous coffee brands, counterfeit luxury bags, clothing, accessories, wallets, belts, hats, and phone cases. When converted to the estimated genuine product price, it amounts to over 3.9 billion won.

In particular, 95% of the counterfeit goods seized this time were sold online, revealing that counterfeit transactions through the internet are becoming more active.

Among the 56 merchants caught, only 16 were online sellers, but the counterfeit goods they sold exceeded 2.3 billion won in estimated genuine product price. Additionally, six of them were found to have supplied counterfeit goods from overseas, including Taobao, a famous Chinese internet shopping mall.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government explained that due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid increase in online shopping, they expanded the scope of counterfeit goods sales investigations, which had been conducted offline in areas such as Myeongdong and Itaewon, to internet open markets for the first time this year. Investigators focused their efforts by monitoring purchase reviews posted on open markets one by one and purchasing suspicious products themselves to verify their authenticity.

The city has criminally charged the 56 caught individuals for trademark law violations, and among them, 51 whose investigations have been concluded, along with all seized products, were sent to the prosecution. According to trademark law, distributing, selling, or storing counterfeit goods can result in imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine of up to 100 million won.

Park Jae-yong, head of the Seoul Civil Life Judicial Police Unit, said, "We expect the trend of non-face-to-face and online transactions to continue for the time being due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, and we plan to continuously monitor the actual conditions of counterfeit goods transactions online and conduct investigations focused on online trademark law violators."

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