Source: Straits Times, Thursday, September 25, 2008 by Chua Hian Hou

Fake Goods Sold On Net : Trio Held

Three people, including a polytechnic student, have been arrested for allegedly selling counterfeit bags and clothes over the internet.

The trio, two men and a woman aged 18 to 29, are accused of buying the fake branded goods from suppliers in China and hawking them on their Blogs. They were arrested during a series of police raids on Tuesday.

 During the five-hour operation, officers seized counterfeit items bearing the emblems of brands like Louis Vuiton and Gucci. The fakes had a street value of about SGD3,000. Police also confiscated computers and documents.

The police did not say how they managed to identify the suspects, but The Straits Times understands that ‘trap purchases’ were made to collect evidence and verify that the products were fakes.

The counterfeit items seized were considered @AAA-grade@, or very high-quality fakes designed to fool buyers into thinking they were originals.

The three suspects will be released on bail pending further investigations.

"The police and rights owners will continue to mount operations against infringers who think they can exploit the anonymity of the internet to ply their trade," said Deputy Superintendent Sharmaine Ong, who heads the Criminal Investigation Department’s Intellectual Property Rights Branch.

The raid is the latest case of teach-savvy counterfeiters using the Internet to peddle counterfeit goods to suspecting buyers.

A similar operation last year netted five Singaporean who were also selling counterfeit luxury goods.

Since 2005, there have been at least five Singaporean reported cases of sellers being busted for selling everything from handbags to software to mobile-phone batteries.

On the Internet, fakes are typically sold on Blogs, online auction sites and web forums. Some sellers admit their goods are fakes, but many tell buyers that they are originals.