[News Today] Selling counterfeit cosmetics for 7 yrs

[LEAD]
A luxury cosmetic product sold for under half its original price. Most would suspect it's fake. But for seven years, one company sold counterfeit versions without getting caught. Here's more.

[REPORT]
This is a well-known cosmetic product, easily recognized by its brown bottle.

It sells for about 15 U.S. dollars.

Compared to the normal price of over 200 dollars, it’s shockingly cheap.

It is a counterfeit posted on a Chinese website.

About 130,000 units of this fake product were smuggled and sold in Korea for seven years until last year.

In terms of the price of the authentic product, the volume amounts to 18 billion won, or nearly 12.75 million dollars.

Labeling them as “overseas direct purchases” made them seem less suspicious.

They sent the fake cosmetics bought from China to a shell company in the U.S.

Then, they were imported to Korea from America.

The seller avoided suspicion by submitting forged receipts to domestic shopping malls where it operated.

If not for reviews reporting negative side effects, the seller would still be getting away with the act.

Similar scams could happen anytime, but it’s very difficult for consumers to tell the difference.

Counterfeits have closely similar brand logos and users' guides.

With copied serial numbers, even the manufacture and expiration dates can be checked. The only practical way to tell is by checking the language used on the container.

Only products with ingredients detailed in Korean are those imported through the authorized process.

Lee Seung-chang / Incheon Airport Customs
The expiry period and date are marked in Korean. So customers can avoid fake products if they check such points thoroughly.

If counterfeits copy even that, the only way is to be wary of prices that seem too good to be true.

■ 제보하기
▷ 전화 : 02-781-1234, 4444
▷ 이메일 : kbs1234@kbs.co.kr
▷ 카카오톡 : 'KBS제보' 검색, 채널 추가
▷ 카카오 '마이뷰', 유튜브에서 KBS뉴스를 구독해주세요!

KBS