A group that brazenly sold counterfeit goods (hereinafter referred to as "jjaktung") through social network service (SNS) live broadcasts was caught by customs authorities.
The Incheon Regional Customs Office of the Korea Customs Service announced on the 25th that it arrested five people including Mr. A and a Vietnamese woman, Ms. B, on charges of storing counterfeit goods worth tens of billions of won in secret warehouses and selling them through SNS live broadcasts such as TikTok and Facebook, and sent them to the prosecution.
Incheon Customs began an investigation earlier this year after receiving a tip that counterfeit products such as Nike apparel were being sold on SNS.
After tracking the crime scenes for several months, Incheon Customs identified secret logistics warehouses located in Namyangju and Pocheon, raided the sites, seized 21,938 counterfeit items including Nike apparel (worth about 3 billion KRW), and arrested five people including the ringleader Mr. A and four members of the illegal counterfeit distribution organization.
According to the investigation, Mr. A conspired with clothing importers and logistics operators he met through his business, recruited sellers to sell counterfeit goods in a part-time job format, and actually sold counterfeit goods through SNS live broadcasts.
Mr. A and others procured a total of 43 types of famous brand counterfeit products by purchasing smuggled counterfeit goods or attaching fake labels to imported clothing without trademarks. There was also evidence that they mixed counterfeit goods with genuine products to conceal their crimes.
Separately, Incheon Customs arrested Ms. B from Vietnam on the same charges. Ms. B is suspected of storing counterfeit goods procured from Vietnam in March this year in a secret warehouse and selling them through SNS live broadcasts. The counterfeit goods sold by Ms. B, including Nike apparel and Chanel bags, amounted to 10,565 items with an estimated market value of about 1.5 billion KRW.
It was revealed that Ms. B took orders from Vietnamese residents in Korea using TikTok and Facebook live broadcasts, purchased the goods through Vietnamese online sites (with domestic delivery), and resold them.
An official from Incheon Customs said, “The criminal methods are becoming increasingly bold, such as openly selling counterfeit goods through SNS live broadcasts,” and urged, “If you discover illegal activities such as smuggling, distribution, or sale of counterfeit goods, please report them to the Korea Customs Service Smuggling Report Center.”
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