The verdict is out! A Chinese seller was sued by Amazon and sentenced to three years in prison

In October, two Chinese sellers were prosecuted by Amazon for fake orders and reviews, and were later sentenced to two years and six months in prison by the Xiamen Court of Fujian Province . I believe that most sellers receive greeting text messages from review service providers almost every day. Whether they are on Amazon or other cross-border platforms, the market for "paid reviews" is endless. But this behavior is indeed illegal.

A small reviewer was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Sellers really need to operate in compliance with regulations. In addition, illegal trading of accounts, counterfeiting and selling of fakes are also included in Amazon's crackdown on counterfeiting. Illegal profiteering will eventually lead to "tears behind bars".

Chinese sellers were sentenced to 3 years in prison for selling counterfeit goods on Amazon

According to foreign media reports , a Chinese seller who runs an Amazon store was recently sentenced to three years in prison and fined US$25,000 (equivalent to RMB 182,000) .

It is reported that this lawsuit was jointly filed by Amazon's Counterfeit Crime Unit ( CCU) and several international luxury brands such as Prada . They accused the seller of selling counterfeit products of luxury brands such as Prada on the Amazon platform .

Amazon CCU stated that in fact, as early as 2021, they had noticed the seller's counterfeiting behavior. After a long period of investigation and evidence collection, Amazon provided a criminal case transfer letter to law enforcement agencies and public security bureaus in relevant areas of China to hold him criminally responsible .

Ultimately, the illegal seller lost the case. The Putian City Court in Fujian Province sentenced him to three years in prison and a fine of 180,000 yuan. The income from counterfeiting and selling counterfeit goods was confiscated, and the remaining illegal counterfeit inventory was seized and destroyed.

The luxury goods market is the most complicated, and there is also the phenomenon of "Zhou Yu fighting Huang Gai - one willing to fight and the other willing to be beaten". Some people want to decorate their facades but are limited by their wallets and can only buy imitations, which breeds a black and gray area. For brands, although this kind of thing has been repeatedly banned, it must be dealt with one by one.

This is not the heaviest fine ever imposed on a seller of counterfeit goods on Amazon.

In June this year , an American seller was sentenced to 4-6.5 years in prison and a fine of US$15 million for selling counterfeit Cisco products on Amazon .

The U.S. Department of Justice document pointed out that since 2013, the seller has used multiple shell companies and dozens of Amazon stores as carriers to import thousands of counterfeit Cisco products from all over the world for sale , and continued to sell counterfeit products on a large scale . It was not until 2022 that Amazon and Cisco brand owners caught evidence of his large-scale counterfeiting and were jointly accused.

During this period, about 180 batches of counterfeit Cisco equipment were seized by the US Customs . Even in 2021, 1,156 counterfeit Cisco products with a retail value of over $7 million were seized from the seller's warehouse during a surprise inspection . Cisco has also repeatedly filed complaints against the seller, but all to no avail.

If the counterfeit products it sold during the decade were genuine, their retail value would have exceeded $1 billion. It is conceivable that its illegal profits would have reached tens of millions of dollars.

Previously, a Chinese seller cooperated with an electronics factory in Shenzhen to produce and sell counterfeit laptop batteries. He sold them on platforms such as Amazon and eBay and earned nearly 24 million US dollars in five years. He was eventually arrested by the FBI.

Amazon's crackdown on counterfeit products is no joke. Last year alone, Amazon's counterfeit crime department handled more than 6 million counterfeit items and prosecuted more than 1,300 illegal counterfeit sellers in the United States, the United Kingdom, EU countries and China .

At the same time, Amazon has invested $1.2 billion in combating counterfeiting on its platform. It has not only improved the technical level of genuine protection, but also organized a professional anti-counterfeiting team of more than 15,000 people .

In April , Amazon launched the Anti-Counterfeit Exchange ( ACX ) , a central database of known counterfeiters and their products. ACX makes it easier for merchants to identify and report counterfeit products, thereby preventing the sale and spread of fakes.

While all of this work is ongoing, Amazon continues to work closely with brands and law enforcement agencies around the world .

Dozens of counterfeiting dens were jointly overturned, and Amazon struck hard

The existence of counterfeit products destroys the ecological environment of the entire business circle. Therefore, in addition to the brand side and the platform side, the relevant domestic departments are also making every effort to crack down on this black and gray industry. Since the goals are the same, it is natural to work together.

In March of this year , with the help of intelligence provided by Amazon CCU, Amazon and Chinese law enforcement agencies raided five counterfeit auto parts manufacturing sites.

During the operation, more than 40,000 counterfeit auto parts , car logo stickers , etc. from more than 30 auto brands were seized, and 270 production equipment used for counterfeiting were confiscated .

Last December, Amazon and Chinese law enforcement agencies destroyed three counterfeit goods production and sales dens in Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces , seizing more than 240,000 counterfeit goods.

It is reported that most of these goods are counterfeit products of automobiles, luxury goods and sports brands . Specifically, there are more than 130,000 counterfeit auto parts and counterfeit brand labels of brands such as BMW, Porsche, and General Motors ; nearly 80,000 counterfeit luxury goods ; and nearly 30,000 counterfeit clothing and brand labels of brands such as Puma and Under Armour .

Last September, Amazon worked with Chinese law enforcement agencies to conduct seven raids on 30 criminals in four cities , seizing hundreds of counterfeit clothing and shoes and nearly 50,000 counterfeit labels from more than a dozen brands .

Last April , Amazon teamed up with Italian brand Salvatore Ferragamo and Chinese law enforcement to seize hundreds of counterfeit belt and buckle accessory products in a warehouse in Yiwu .

Amazon's anti-counterfeiting efforts are not limited to China.

In May this year , Amazon , Philips and the London Police Intellectual Property Crime Team worked together to crack down on several gangs in the UK that were selling counterfeit electric toothbrush heads.

It is reported that during the raid , thousands of counterfeit toothbrush heads were found in the counterfeiting den .

Previously, Amazon also cooperated with office supply manufacturer Brother to file civil lawsuits in Germany against several sellers who sold counterfeit Brother printer toner cartridges.

Earlier, Amazon also raided several counterfeiting dens in India, Brazil and other places, with the amount involved reaching tens of millions of US dollars.

Dharmesh Mehta , vice president of Amazon's global selling partner services , said Amazon cannot tolerate any fraud and will continue to work hard until all counterfeit products are cleared.

Amazon has been cracking down on counterfeiting and selling fake products, cracking down on false orders and reviews, and cracking down on illegal buying and selling accounts. As of the end of September this year alone , Amazon has taken more than 70 law enforcement actions with Chinese law enforcement agencies, and nearly 600 bad sellers have been arrested .

Such cooperation in anti-counterfeiting has become the norm. After the investigation, illegal sellers will not only face the removal of their product listings , but also face varying degrees of fines and imprisonment. " Making money is a small matter, but complying with regulations is a big matter "...

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Sentencing