Collaborating with genuine counters, using genuine products to illegally disassemble plates, producing and manufacturing raw materials, producing and processing finished bags, forging genuine sales receipts, cross-border distribution... This counterfeiting group also cleverly planted fake bags in fake bags. Chips-
they created a fake LV production and sales industry chain
The procuratorial organ and the police cooperated to arrest the suspect and then returned to Shanghai by the high-speed rail
Counterfeit LV bags sold in the store
Machine for producing and processing counterfeit LV bags
LV printed fabrics and leathers in the warehouse
●As of February 9, Shanghai’s Qingpu District Procuratorate charged all 26 principal offenders in a case of counterfeiting and selling counterfeit LV bags on suspicion of counterfeiting registered trademarks, selling products with counterfeit registered trademarks, and illegally manufacturing registered trademark signs. Prosecute.
On April 23, the public security agency once again reported and arrested 36 criminal suspects implicated in the case.
Currently, the case is still being processed.
●In Guangdong Province, where the bag and leather goods manufacturing industry is developed, tens of thousands of finished bags are processed and sold every day, and they are exported all over the world. However, a number of counterfeit LVs are mixed in these brand new and beautiful bags. Branded bags, this batch of bags, under the name of genuine products, has flowed into thousands of households and even been sold to the Middle East.
●It is worth noting that this counterfeit gang cleverly implanted chips in the counterfeit bags in order to use fakes, and can access the genuine links of the official website by scanning.
However, the right holder of the LV brand said: "LV genuine bags do not have such NFC sensor chips, but all bags that can be detected by the mobile phone's NFC sensor function are counterfeit products."
The transformation of leather stalls
By 2020, this "long-haired leather industry" has been completely transformed into a black workshop specializing in the production of LV brand leather bags.
In December 2019, the public security authority in Qingpu District, Shanghai received a report from LV Group, stating that someone was selling suspected counterfeit LV brand bags.
After receiving the report, the public security organs began a meticulous follow-up investigation.
The Qingpu District Procuratorate also intervened in advance and sent two prosecutors to guide the police in collecting evidence and investigating the entire process.
Illegal use of genuine products to dismantle plate-making, production and manufacturing of raw materials, production and processing of finished bags, forged genuine sales documents, cross-border distribution... It seems to be the “one-stop industrial chain” for the manufacture and sale of fake LV brand bags, and the core of the industry chain is straightforward. Refers to a leather stall in Guangzhou.
After several months of ambushes in Guangdong Province, on July 14, 2020, at the time of the final net closing, the public security organs were divided into 8 action groups, and arrests were launched in Guangzhou and Dongguan at the same time, and a total of 62 suspects were arrested. , More than 30 counterfeit equipment, more than 2,000 fake bags, 1,200 counterfeit LV brand business cards, 62,400 certificates, 36,000 labels, and 123,690 brand logos were seized.
Four brothers and sisters Yang Qiwei, Yang Qixuan, Yang Qizheng, and Yang Qihui were caught first, all of whom were suppliers of fake LV bag leather and hardware accessories.
Since 2015, the three Yang Qiwei brothers have partnered to rent a stall in a hardware and leather city in Guangzhou, named "Changfa Leather Industry", which specializes in self-employed deerskin flannel and cotton cloth.
The business of the brothers went smoothly and slowly developed and grew. Later, due to lack of manpower, they hired four more employees to engage in sales.
In 2018, customers came to ask whether they could make PVC leather with LV brand logo or checkerboard pattern. There were more people asking, Yang Qiwei was a little moved, but Yang Qixuan and Yang Qizheng were timid, and the two persuaded the older brother not to do this. .
Yang Qiwei initially listened to the advice of his two younger brothers, but later considered that his wife had just given birth to three children, his eldest child was also in junior high school, and he was also in his forties, so he thought he might as well take this opportunity to make a fortune.
Therefore, Yang Qiwei took the lead in undertaking the business of making LV luggage leather materials.
At first, he bought PVC primer from the market and asked someone to print LV's old flowers or checkerboard grids. He made more than 100 rolls. After selling more than 10 rolls, the market response was not good, and there were problems of color fading and incorrect pattern. All these materials fell into his hands.
Later, he found his relative Yang Chunshang. From March to July 14, 2020, Yang Qiwei provided the LV brand logo pattern and his own leather to Yang Chunshang for processing, and printed a total of blue, pink and other gradients with LV brand logos. More than 2300 yards of color patterns (3 bags per yard can be made).
Unexpectedly, the sale of these fake LV leather materials was extremely hot, and the brothers Yang Qixuan and Yang Qizheng couldn't resist the temptation in the end, thinking that as long as they acted secretly, they would not be discovered.
They even recruited their younger sister, Yang Qihui, to help her take care of delivery and other related matters. However, several employees in the "Long Hair Leather Industry" failed to resist the temptation of high wages and considerable commissions and joined them one after another.
One of the young employees named Huang Bo was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug trafficking. Soon after he was released from prison, he fell into the abyss of this huge counterfeit production and sale case.
At this time, several "Boss Yang", apart from leather imprinting and laser printing, developed a business of fine processing and screening of hardware accessories. A large number of leather materials and hardware accessories were stacked in their stalls and warehouses. , They deliberately negotiated with Leather City not to sign a contract for renting the warehouse.
Yang Qiwei explained: "I also know that selling leather with the LV logo is definitely illegal. If the contract is not signed, if the warehouse is found by the police, the police should not find me."
At this point, this "long-haired leather industry" has been completely transformed into a black workshop specializing in the production of LV brand bag leather.
It was from the beginning of this black workshop that the prosecutor handling the case discovered the hidden and mature industrial chain hidden behind it through the inspection of its huge structure.
"Behind the Yang brothers, we unearthed more than 40 dens, each with a clear division of labor, and cooperated in the production and sale of fakes." The prosecutor handling the case followed up and looked up dozens of ledgers and tens of thousands of chat and transaction records, and finally found the decisive one. Key clues.
Who is the "inner ghost"
The prosecutor handling the case consulted a large number of chat records and transaction information, and finally targeted Shi Yunqin, an LV brand counter teller in a shopping mall in Guangdong Province.
When the prosecutor handling the case checked the accounts of "Changfa Leather Industry" for several years, he found a record of transactions between the Yang brothers and one of the most important helpers. She came from within the LV brand.
"We found more than 30 authentic bags in the seized evidence. These bags cover almost all the hot-selling styles of the LV brand, but what is suspicious is that these bags have obvious traces of dismantling. Where do these bags come from? What are they used for?"
With these questions in mind, the prosecutor handling the case consulted a large number of chat records and transaction information, and finally targeted Shi Yunqin, a counter counter of the LV brand in a shopping mall in Guangdong Province.
After Shi Yunqin was arrested, he explained the criminal process, and the truth of the matter was as expected by the prosecutor handling the case.
It turned out that Yang Qiwei had been buying genuine bags for disassembly and plate making, and he had bought more than a dozen bags from Shi Yunqin.
However, it took a long time from learning about the new model, to getting the genuine product, to dismantling and making the plate. The group considered that the fake bag must be listed together with the real bag in order to cater to those customers who are trying to be on the front line of the trend. Group, then set about pulling LV internal employees into the water.
After several contacts between Yang Qiwei and Shi Yunqin, Shi Yunqin finally agreed to join.
After that, Yang Qiwei can always get first-hand confidential information about LV internal staff training from Shi Yunqin, including new product styles and detailed illustrations that have not yet been sold.
After obtaining these materials, they can imitate them, and even be able to market them earlier than the genuine ones.
According to Shi Yunqin's account, she was responsible for providing internal information and had never participated in the actual operation of selling fakes, but she heard several people from Yang mentioned, "As long as there is Xu Zhongyi, these bags will not worry about sales."
The name "Xu Zhongyi" has long been marked by the prosecutor handling the case due to its high frequency.
One-stop production and sales
In order to increase sales, the Yang brothers, Xu Zhongyi and the Lin brothers opened up the sales chain.
After many interrogations, Xu Zhongyi, who was originally very tight-lipped, admitted to the prosecutor handling the case that he was one of the largest customers of the "Changfa Leather Industry".
The police seized counterfeit LV finished bags made with raw materials from "Changfa Leather Industry" from his factory, with a total value of more than 12 million yuan.
From May 2018 to July 2019, he successively spent more than 490,000 yuan to purchase leather in the "Changfa Leather Industry", and his bags were sold as far as the Middle East.
Xu Zhongyi also confessed to a family under the sales chain.
The elder brothers and sisters of Lin (Lin Xuemin, Lin Xueda, and Lin Xuena) from Guangdong promoted fake LV bags in WeChat Moments. They are familiar with consumer preferences and needs, and they also take on the job of "selecting products".
Xu Zhongyi originally made counterfeit LV boxes, but later started to make counterfeit LV bags. Lin Xuemin bought some finished bags from him and sold them at a higher price.
Lin Xuemin's business was in full swing. After his younger brother Lin Xueda was released from prison, she let him sell goods with her, and her third brother Lin Xuena joined soon.
Lin Xuemin not only brought in his younger brother, but also brought other relatives in the family.
Since April 2018, Lin Xuemin has hired her 22-year-old niece Xiaoli to take promotional photos and manage accounts for the counterfeit LV bags she sold by using the rent to offset her wages; and hand over the WeChat account used to sell goods to her niece. Yunyun manages and uses it to help maintain customers and pay for goods transfer, and allows Yunyun to use this number to solicit customers and sell on his own without affecting the original customers, and the profit earned is used as salary; and a monthly salary of 4,500 yuan Let her niece Yuyu take care of the two WeChat trumpets, and be responsible for the reception of the sales of counterfeit LV bags and after-sales repairs on these two WeChat trumpets.
This illegal and criminal business seemed to be turned into a "family business" by them.
In order to increase sales, the Yang brothers, Xu Zhongyi and the Lin brothers opened up the sales chain.
In addition to selling on their own, Lin Xuemin and others have also developed many other companies. They sold imitation bags with a cost of only 100 to 200 yuan to first-tier distributors at a price of 300 to 500 yuan each. After increasing the price by 40%, it will be wholesaled and distributed to many places across the country at a price much lower than the market price.
Implant the chip in the bag
In order to confuse consumers with fake and real effects, this criminal gang also launched "independent research and development."
"We noticed that they had a WeChat group called'Chip Group' during the handling of the case. Several major criminal suspects were in this group. In order to achieve the purpose of being fake, they implanted chips in fake bags and scanned them. The chip can access the authentic link of the official website to deceive consumers." The prosecutor handling the case said.
During the verification process, the prosecutor handling the case was surprised to find that after the bribe counters obtained the first-hand information, the criminal gang had been thinking about how to "retain customers and increase competitiveness" in order to grab more profits. To achieve the effect of confusing the vast number of consumers with fake and real effects, they also started "independent research and development."
"In the past two years, I have seen chip packages on the market become popular, and there are tutorials on swiping tags with NFC access control cards on the Internet, so I tried to swipe the information on the LV official website into the NFC chip." When the prosecutor handling the case interrogated the Yang brothers and sisters. At that time, they explained.
A bag with a chip implanted in it, as long as it is scanned with a mobile phone, it will jump to the page introducing the bag on the LV brand's official website. Many "xiaobai" buyers who have not studied in depth are confused by this effect. , So as to be sure that this is genuine.
The Yang brothers and sisters bought a large number of NFC chips at a price of 0.1 yuan each, implanted them in the bag, and sold the rest to other counterfeiting factories at a price of 0.2 yuan each.
Yang Qizheng gave his sister Yang Qihui the task of importing the data into the chip.
The prosecutor handling the case asked how long it would take to complete the chip implantation of a LV bag. Yang Qihui confessed that “it takes ten seconds or twenty seconds”. In one hour, she can complete nearly 150 chip implantation of the bag alone. Into.
In this arrest, the police also seized more than 100,000 pieces of raw materials such as chips.
However, according to the owner of the LV brand, LV genuine bags do not have such NFC sensor chips, but all bags that can be detected by the mobile phone's NFC sensor function are counterfeit products.
A senior practitioner in the luxury goods appraisal industry who did not want to be named said frankly: "This gang is still loading chips in their bags. To be honest, I don't understand why."
The evidence is conclusive and severely punished in accordance with the law
As long as the evidence is conclusive, all principal offenders in the upstream and downstream of this industry chain will be punished as accomplices in crimes of infringement of intellectual property rights and will be severely punished by the law.
In the face of the huge upstream and downstream industrial chain involved, the prosecutors handling the case actually raised questions during the process of handling the case: Should all the cases be arrested?
Does the manufacturer of leather raw materials constitute a crime of making and selling fakes?
The prosecutor handling the case of the Qingpu District Procuratorate finally quoted the "Regulations on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights" issued by the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security. The qualitative problem of providing raw materials, machinery and equipment for the crime of infringing intellectual property rights: Knowing that others have committed crimes of infringing intellectual property rights, provide them with the main raw materials, auxiliary materials, semi-finished products, packaging materials, machinery and equipment, labels, labels, Those who provide assistance in production technology, formulas, etc., or provide services such as Internet access, server hosting, network storage space, communication transmission channels, agency fees, and fee settlement, shall be punished as accomplices in crimes of infringement of intellectual property rights.
In other words, as long as the evidence is conclusive, all the principal offenders in the upstream and downstream of this industry chain will be punished as accomplices in crimes of infringement of intellectual property rights and will be severely punished by the law.
"As of now, our hospital has determined that only the fake bags made with leather provided by Changfa Leather Co., Ltd. seized by Xu Zhongyi are worth more than 12.6 million yuan, and the bags seized by the Lin brothers and sisters are worth more than 11.7 million yuan. In addition, the rest of the supply and sales links in the production and sales chain totaled more than 100 million yuan." said Wang Sheng, the prosecutor handling the case.
After several months of review, the procuratorial agency determined that more than 30 criminal suspects in the manufacturing and selling counterfeit industry chain had made and sold products that knew they were counterfeit registered trademarks. The amount was huge, and their actions had violated the criminal law and should be registered as counterfeiting. The crime of trademark, the crime of selling counterfeit registered trademarks, and the crime of illegally manufacturing registered trademark signs were investigated for criminal responsibility, and the arrest was approved.
"With the promulgation and implementation of the "Criminal Law Amendment (11)", the penalties for intellectual property crimes are constantly increasing. The sentence for the crime of selling counterfeit registered trademarks has been increased from the previous maximum of seven years to ten years. The deterrence of judicial protection of intellectual property rights.” Wang Sheng said, for major criminal cases of intellectual property infringement, we intervene in investigation activities in advance, promptly guide investigation thinking, clarify the direction of investigation, and put forward targeted opinions on collecting, fixing, and improving evidence. And recommendations to ensure the validity of investigation and evidence collection and the accuracy of the case.
(All names in the text are pseudonyms)
(Layout design: Zhao Yinuo)
Wang Shuwen