"Brand" filter counterfeiting chain hidden in unknown factories

"Brand" filter counterfeiting chain hidden in unknown factories

1.1 million units were sold in two years, and a large number of consumer complaints led to a major case of counterfeiting.

◆Since 2024, a large number of abnormal complaints have been pouring in after sales of a well-known filter element brand. Consumers reported that after using the filter elements purchased online, problems such as water odor and increased scale frequently occurred.

◆After identification, all the filter elements involved are counterfeit and infringing products. The public security organs followed the delivery address of the fake goods and seized a large number of unsold counterfeit products such as water purification filters and packaging boxes with brand logos, and arrested the person involved in the case, Zhao.

◆Zhao was interested in the high profits of famous brand filter elements, so he first found a workshop to manufacture counterfeit filter elements, and then found someone to copy the trademark labels, complete packaging boxes, etc. After being packaged in its own factory, the counterfeit products are transformed into "original genuine products" and sold throughout the country through online sales.

A large number of complaints suddenly flooded into the after-sales service of a well-known filter element brand, and consumers reported that they had bought fake products online. After the brand sent the relevant products for inspection, it was discovered that these filter elements were all counterfeit and infringing products. A small filter element may seem inconspicuous, but it is an important line of defense for the safety of daily drinking water for thousands of households. What is going on?

A sudden influx of unusual complaints

"I obviously bought a big-name filter element, but after changing the water and boiling it, there is still a thick layer of scale on the bottom of the pot." Since 2024, a large number of abnormal complaints have been pouring in from the after-sales service of a well-known domestic filter element brand. Different from individual equipment failures in the past, the contents of these complaints are highly similar. Consumers reported that the filter elements purchased online "look exactly like genuine products, but when used, they are the wrong version." Some consumers said frankly that they have been using the same filter element of this brand all year round, but after replacing and installing the filter element purchased online this time, they felt that the scale increased significantly after boiling the water. They thought there was a problem with their own water quality. After repeated inspections, they suspected that they had purchased a fake.

A large number of homogeneous abnormal complaints aroused high alertness from the brand owners, and the staff immediately sent samples of relevant products for inspection. Professional appraisal opinions showed that all the filter elements submitted for inspection were counterfeit and infringing products. Following clues to the delivery address of the fake goods, the brand went to the Licang Branch of Qingdao Public Security Bureau in Shandong Province to report the case.

On December 12, 2024, the public security organs arrested Zhao, a member of the filter element production and core sales staff, in an unnamed factory in the jurisdiction. At the scene, a large number of unsold counterfeit products such as water purification filters, filter membranes, packaging boxes, and packaging boxes with brand logos were piled up. On the same day, the public security organs opened a case for investigation against Zhao. Zhao confessed that his wife Zhang participated in the entire process of manufacturing and selling counterfeit goods and was responsible for accounting and other work. On December 30, 2024, Zhang took the initiative to surrender to the public security organ.

With the arrest of the couple, a black industrial chain of counterfeiting and counterfeiting, hidden in a small workshop and involving more than 10 million yuan, emerged.

Making and selling counterfeit goods forms an industrial chain

Zhao confessed that he had previously been engaged in the sales of water purifiers of a certain home appliance brand. Later, he tried to start his own business and launched his own brand filter element, but the sales were poor. Seeing the booming sales and considerable profits of a well-known brand of filter element on the market, Zhao had the crooked idea of ​​counterfeiting the famous brand to make profits.

In January 2023, Zhao rented a factory building and while shopping for genuine filter elements online for reference, he also collected samples of various counterfeit filter elements on the market and compared them repeatedly. After several screenings, he finally selected Kong from Taizhou, Zhejiang as the filter element processing partner.

After receiving the genuine filter element sample sent by Zhao, Kong opened the mold according to the sample, processed and produced the plastic shell, then purchased cheap activated carbon and resin for simple filling, and used a plastic welding machine to seal the top cover, and an inferior filter element was formed. From 2023 to 2024, Zhao paid more than 8.1 million yuan to Kong for purchasing filter elements.

Just having a filter element is not enough, high imitation packaging is the key to deceiving people. Zhao contacted Xu online and asked him to fine-tune the details of the trademark image source and print more than 130,000 counterfeit self-adhesive labels in batches. Afterwards, Zhao contacted a number of printing companies online and placed orders for more than 1.6 million packaging bags, boxes and other counterfeit packaging. During the cooperation process, many printing manufacturers asked Zhao for official brand authorization documents, but Zhao excused them with the excuse that "the authorization has not been issued yet and will be provided later", and then nothing happened.

After a complete set of counterfeit materials was prepared, Zhao hired workers to complete the packaging in his own factory, and the inferior filter element was transformed into an "original genuine product." After investigation, Zhao used second-hand trading websites and other channels to sell products under the banner of genuine products. In just two years, he sold a total of 1.1 million counterfeit filter elements, with a total amount of more than 15 million yuan involved.

Not a single link can be missed

Due to the complexity of the case, the public security agency requested the Licang District Procuratorate to intervene in advance to guide the investigation and evidence collection. The procuratorial organ found that the initial focus of the investigation of the case was mainly on Zhao and his wife in the sales link, but the source of counterfeiting and the supporting suppliers that provided trademarks and packaging accessories for counterfeiting activities were not involved in the case.

"Without a complete set of imitation trademarks and packaging to camouflage, the filter elements cannot be sold as genuine products, and it is impossible to achieve a sales scale of tens of millions of yuan. This case has a long chain, many people, and obvious cross-regional characteristics. Only attacking the terminals cannot eradicate the chaos, and black products will resurrect at any time." For the above-mentioned issues, the prosecutor handling the case clarified the whereabouts of Zhao's money for purchasing filter elements item by item, the subjective awareness of each packaging supplier, the frequency of supply, the scale of transactions and the amount of illegal profits, and guided the public security organs to supplement the investigation and evidence collection, trace the source of production upwards, and dig deep into the downstream supporting facilities.

Under the full-scale investigation of the public security organs, from January 2025 to March this year, 13 people including Xu and Kong came to the case one after another. So far, all 15 persons involved in the case have arrived, covering all aspects of "filter element production - logo printing - packaging and supporting - online and offline distribution".

Stratified handling of full-chain attacks

From January to April this year, the public security organs successively transferred cases to the Licang District Procuratorate for review and prosecution.

There are many people involved in this case, and different people have different levels of status in the criminal chain, subjective viciousness, and illegal profit amounts. How can we accurately pursue accountability so that we can avoid in vain? Prosecutors handling cases adhere to the principle of hierarchical classification and differentiated handling of cases, and adhere to the concept of judicial modesty while maintaining efforts to crack down on illegal crimes.

In March this year, the hospital instituted a public prosecution in accordance with the law against four people including Zhao, the core organizer who led the production of filter elements, coordinated distribution, and provided long-term and stable supply of counterfeit trademarks and packaging accessories, and strictly pursued criminal responsibility. After the trial, the court has successively issued verdicts: Zhao was sentenced to four years and six months in prison and fined 7 million yuan for the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks; Kong and Zhang were convicted of counterfeiting registered trademarks, and Xu was guilty of illegally manufacturing and selling illegally manufactured registered trademarks, and were each sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for three years, and each was fined accordingly.

For two people, including Sun, who were involved in the packaging supporting business, involved a small amount, and had less subjective malignancy, and voluntarily pleaded guilty and punished, and voluntarily returned illegal gains, the procuratorial organs made a decision not to prosecute in accordance with the law from May to June this year based on the facts and circumstances of the entire case, and simultaneously initiated the reverse transition of executions, and transferred procuratorial opinions to the market supervision department, recommending that the above-mentioned persons be given corresponding administrative penalties.

Regarding Song Moumou and three other migrant workers who simply provided labor services and followed arrangements to participate in operations, without independent decision-making power and with meager profits, the procuratorial organs supervised the public security organs in withdrawing the case in accordance with the law. The public security organs dropped the case against three people on June 5 this year.

In addition, six people who made packaging materials for Zhao are suspected of other crimes, and the case is under further investigation.

(Procuratorial Daily, our media reporter Zhang Tian, ​​correspondent Yan Wenjun)