Hong Kong customs seizes HK$15 million in bogus items in record online sale case

Hong Kong customs officers have uncovered the department’s largest-ever case involving counterfeit goods sold online, arresting seven people and seizing HK$15 million (US$1.9 million) worth of items, including bogus medications and fake Louis Vuitton and Hermès handbags.

Hong Yan, a senior inspector with the Customs and Excise Department’s intellectual property general investigation unit, said officers arrested four men and three women on Tuesday last week at a storage unit in Yuen Long after beginning investigations in June.

“Customs officers have discovered that the company receiving funds from parcels [of fakes] ordered from the online platform could be traced to a storage unit in Yuen Long,” he said.

The department said the syndicate was believed to have operated on social media and claimed to be selling goods under a local brand for Chinese medicine health supplements, but had also allegedly possessed other types of counterfeit items.

Officers raided the storage unit inside a factory building in Yuen Long and another unit on the premises on September 9, discovering 7,400 counterfeit items.

The bogus items included bogus health supplements, counterfeit Louis Vuitton and Hermès handbags, clothing, watches and other accessories, and fake medicines labelled as Part One poisons.