Smuggled and counterfeit goods still rampant in Nghe An

A fake Swiss brand watch costs over 1 million VND in Dien Chau town. Photo: Hai An

Cheap "branded" goods are everywhere

Walking around the outside of Phu Dien Trade Center (Dien Chau), there are many places selling "fake" Swiss watches with famous brands such as Tissot, Longines, Movado, CK... priced from only 1 to 6 million VND/watch. "The same watch, if it is a genuine Swiss product, it can cost hundreds of millions of VND. Knowing that it is a fake, many people still like it because of its beautiful design, cheap price and famous brand label" - a small trader at Phu Dien Trade Center said.

Through research, some traders said: Most of the fake Swiss watches are imported from China and cost less than 8 USD/piece (equivalent to 160,000 VND). With such extremely low production costs, people have replaced stainless steel with low-quality metal, so when they bring it to Vietnam, they still make a high profit. Buyers of this type of watch have a high risk.

A fake Dior men's wallet in Dien Chau town costs only 500,000 VND, while the genuine one costs 10 million VND/piece. Photo: Hai An

Going down to Dien Thanh commune (Dien Chau), we saw many fashion stores with signs selling bags and wallets of high-end brands Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Michael Kors, Tory Burch. The bags were fake high-end goods and did not list prices. The seller would tell the buyer the price as soon as they liked a model. The products were diverse with prices ranging from 500,000 VND to 3 million VND, depending on the fake status or the brand being faked.

In Vinh City, there are currently many places selling fake high-end branded clothes. For example, at Vinh market, people sell a full range of models, from clothes and accessories of brands such as Dior, Versace, Gucci, Chanel with prices ranging from 350,000 VND to over 5 million VND.

Mr. Tran Minh in Quynh Luu district - a customer choosing "high-end imitation" goods at Vinh market shared: "I really like this brand but don't have enough money to buy genuine products, so I bought 2 fake Lacoste crocodile T-shirts for less than 1 million VND. Meanwhile, the price of a genuine Lacoste T-shirt is over 3 million VND.

Fake Gucci and Li-Ning shirts cost VND400,000-500,000 and are sold at Vinh market, while genuine shirts cost over VND3 million each. Photo: Hai An

Also near Vinh market, the market for household electrical accessories is very chaotic, there are many stores selling products without labels, of unknown origin... There are counterfeit products still being sold openly such as: Electric fans, rice cookers, electric motors... many anti-shock and anti-leakage devices are counterfeit but still being sold for less than 100,000 VND/set, while genuine products cost millions per set.

Not only counterfeiting products of famous brands in the world , these subjects also counterfeit essential products such as: fish sauce, MSG, laundry detergent, shampoo, shower gel, candy... The trick used is to label the goods with names similar to those of reputable brands to confuse consumers.

Customers shopping at Vinh market. Photo: Hai An

Cannot be completely resolved

According to the report of Nghe An Market Management Department, in the first 8 months of 2023, Nghe An Market Management Department handled 1,876 cases, collecting 3.8 billion VND to the state budget.

Typically, recently on September 14, Market Management Team No. 3 coordinated with the Economic Police Department - Provincial Police to conduct an inspection at two business households named LTN, address Ly Tu Trong Street, Vinh City, and MT on De Tham Street, Vinh City, discovering 415 boxes of fruit mooncakes, roasted chestnut cakes and 960 MSG cakes of unknown origin. The functional sector imposed an administrative fine of 35 million VND and forced the destruction of all the violating goods.

Previously, on September 6, 2023, Market Management Team No. 4 coordinated with functional agencies to discover Mr. Phan Duc Hung in Minh Chau commune (Dien Chau), transporting 40 kg of chicken feet, 50 kg of frozen pork bones that smelled bad, of unknown origin, the authorities forced the goods to be destroyed and imposed an administrative fine of 13.9 million VND...

Mr. Nguyen Hong Phong - Deputy Director of Nghe An Market Management Department said: For prohibited and smuggled goods, the common method of the subjects is to transport goods in small quantities, disguise, and hide them sophisticatedly with other goods in the trunk or homemade car compartment, to avoid inspection and control by the authorities.

Counterfeit goods, poor quality goods, goods of unknown origin are sold by subjects on e-commerce platforms, social networking sites with the labels "hand-carried goods", "cheap sale goods"... On the other hand, subjects often take advantage of people's lack of knowledge and low income to bring counterfeit goods, poor quality goods to rural areas, mountainous areas, remote areas for consumption on mobile sales vehicles.

Authorities inspect goods of unknown origin in Vinh City. Photo: Hai An

In particular, it is currently very difficult to control the e-commerce sector, because the e-commerce business model through social networks does not require premises or business locations, making it very difficult to access, detect and handle violations.

Meanwhile, a segment of consumers have a mentality of wanting cheap goods and cannot distinguish between genuine and fake goods, so they are easily exploited by profiteers. This is also a problem that greatly affects the prevention of counterfeit and poor quality goods in the market.

Therefore, in order to strengthen solutions against counterfeit goods, fake goods and commercial fraud, in addition to the drastic participation of functional forces, consumers should only buy products on websites that have notified the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and should not compromise on consuming cheap counterfeit goods.

Source: https://baonghean.vn/hang-lau-hang-gia-van-hoanh-hanh-tai-nghe-an-post276661.html