Police in Vietnam seize counterfeit cosmetics heading to China

Vietnamese police reported they had discovered and seized more than 31,000 products, as well as approximately 200kgs of raw materials and ingredients presumably intended for the manufacture of products at a warehouse facility in Quang Ninh Province, according to an online news report from Nn Express.

Local enforcement told the news service they had arrested a 42 year old man, Zhong Dao Ping, on suspicion of manufacturing the products with the intention to illegally export them back into China.

Sophisticated operation​

Upon being arrested, the man is said to have confessed to the counterfeiting operation, and admitted that it was his intention to sell them as skin care products in China.

The counterfeit operation was said to be sophisticated, and although the brand name has been withheld for legal reasons, the plan even included anti-counterfeit stamps which had been affixed to the labels on the packaging.

Although the batch was relatively small, it underlines a much larger business that continues to flourish in the Northern Vietnamese region bordering China.

Police on both sides of the border say they continue to crack down on counterfeiting operations of this nature, but many fake products continue to find their way into outlets all over the major urban areas of China.

Crack down extends to online retailers​

The crackdown is not only happening at the borders.

Last year authorities in China started to target a number of the leading online retailers, several of whom were suspected of selling counterfeit cosmetics and fragrances.

In July of last year, Jumei International, one of the country’s leading online retail portals, was forced to close down after media reports brought to attention the fact that many fake luxury goods, including cosmetics and fragrances, were being sold through the portal.

The company was then forced to apologise in the wake of accepting product authentication and customs certificate from a supplier that turned out to be forgeries.

The company is behind over a fifth of online beauty sales in the China, and has over 10.5 million active customers and 1,700 suppliers.