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24 April 2017Trademarks

Alibaba tip-off sees $2.9m worth of fake cosmetics seized

A tip-off by e-commerce company Alibaba led Chinese authorities to seize RMB 20 million ($2.9 million) worth of counterfeit cosmetics in the country.

On Saturday, April 22, Alibaba’s news site  Alizila announced that data provided by the e-commerce platform led to the seizure of 4,000 fake products.

Police in the eastern Jiangsu province of Nanjing raided a warehouse and arrested four people on suspicion of illegal activity, according to Alizila.

Alibaba first alerted authorities to the possible counterfeiting of high-end skincare products sold by one online store in October last year.

Alibaba’s platform governance team subsequently used “big data” to unveil a counterfeiting web that impersonated brands such as La Mer, Jo Malone and Calvin Klein.

The authorities found that creams and serums were being manufactured in “unhygienic conditions”.

Some products were “complete fakes” in terms of product and packaging, while other fake cosmetics were put into original, recycled packaging and passed off as authentic.

According to the Alizila release, the warehouse raid is the latest co-operation between Alibaba and Chinese authorities to “weed out” sellers of fake products.

In March this year, WIPR reported that Alibaba had sued a merchant on Taobao, its online shopping marketplace, who was suspected of selling counterfeit Mars pet food.

The alleged counterfeiter was accused of selling RMB 2.67 million worth of goods on the online marketplace.

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