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The Municipal Police of Madrid, Leganés and Getafe have just dismantled an organization that was dedicated to deceiving mobile phone users by selling fake equipment. There are six people, all of them of Chinese origin, who have been arrested, accused of a crime against industrial property and criminal group. This group of people operated in a workshop where they clandestinely manufactured touch screens for mobiles. Half a million counterfeit items have been seized, in addition to eight high-end cars, documentation and cash. as reported by ABC.
This is how the criminal group that falsified mobile screens operated
It was in February of this year when the Madrid Police learned that a specialized store in the center of the city was selling fake merchandise from recognized brands in the world of technology. The origin of all this counterfeit material was located in two stores in the town of Fuenlabrada, run by two citizens of Chinese origin, who sold accessories for mobile phones. The arms of the counterfeit accessories plot do not end in Madrid capital but extend further: three industrial warehouses have also been found in the town of Illescas, in Toledo, where part of the catalog was stored, in addition to four homes in Leganés and Getafe.
e 'criminal group' by having a recognizable and solid structure, through which they carried out the entire process of handling the materials, received from China, to make them pass as authentic, in addition to the distribution of them to the different channels and its subsequent final sale to the public. In addition, the investigation has offered details in relation to, for example, the extreme security measures applied by the criminal group in order not to be intervened: surveillance tasks were carried out, from the homes where they stored the false products, to counteract the Police itself. In addition, the staff was eventually rotating, in addition to the vehicles used for transportation and the homes used as warehouses.
The fake products that were sold by this group had stickers on them that hid the place where the brand whose rights were violated appeared. When the customer bought an item and removed that sticker, they found the sad reality: the product was from another brand and not the one they believed they had bought.
At the time the searches were made effective, the warehouses were open to the public with workers who did not have a residence permit or required work. In addition, machinery necessary for the manufacture and assembly of mobile screens was found. After completing the searches, the Police had seized 500,000 counterfeit items, including housings, covers, chargers, cables, adapters and touch screens. The total value of the seized merchandise, to which must be added eight high-end vehicles and 8,315 euros in cash, amounts to 18 million euros.
The investigation is ongoing despite the arrest of these six people involved, due to the suspicion that the economic benefits of the activity were later laundered through shell companies.
