Hong Kong customs has seized 120,000 suspected counterfeit items in a month-long operation that targeted cross-border transshipments during a major online shopping festival in mainland China, confiscating goods including fake Gucci handbags, Hermes shoes and latest models of the iPhone.
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The Customs and Excise Department revealed on Friday that it conducted a special enforcement operation between October 20 and November 14, during which it solved a total of 29 cases and seized counterfeit goods worth an estimated HK$65 million (US$8.3 million).
“During the ‘Double 11’ shopping festival, with its massive transaction volume, criminals attempted to exploit the anonymity of online transactions to mix counterfeit goods with legitimate e-commerce products, hoping to smuggle them in or out of Hong Kong,” said Senior Inspector Liu Wai-kit of customs’ intellectual property transnational investigation division.
“Through intelligence analysis and risk management, and cooperating with large platforms handling cross-border e-commerce logistics, customs strengthened its inspections and checks.”
Double 11, or Singles’ Day, a major shopping festival in mainland China, falls on November 11 every year and is celebrated by many online shops and e-commerce platforms that roll out discounts to boost sales.
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Liu added that the 29 cases involved multiple logistics centres, with preliminary investigations revealing that the seized items were meant to be shipped overseas via Hong Kong, including destinations in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East.
The seized goods covered many categories including clothing, footwear, electronic products and luxury goods.