---
title: "Shocking: A Single Online Toothpaste Purchase Uncovers a 827 Million Yuan Counterfeiting Scheme"
description: "Police in Jiaojiang District, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, have dismantled a major cross-provincial network producing and selling counterfeit cosmetics of internationally renowned brands, seizing over 1,200 boxes of fake products valued at nearly 827 million yuan. The investigation began with a consumer complaint about a toothpaste purchased online that failed to foam, leading to the arrest of 13 suspects and the destruction of multiple production and storage sites."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2017-03-28"
language: "en"
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# Shocking: A Single Online Toothpaste Purchase Uncovers a 827 Million Yuan Counterfeiting Scheme

> Police in Jiaojiang District, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, have dismantled a major cross-provincial network producing and selling counterfeit cosmetics of internationally renowned brands, seizing over 1,200 boxes of fake products valued at nearly 827 million yuan. The investigation began with a consumer complaint about a toothpaste purchased online that failed to foam, leading to the arrest of 13 suspects and the destruction of multiple production and storage sites.

Photo: Some of the counterfeit cosmetics seized by police. Photo by Yu Shunguang.
Low-priced goods online often hold great allure, especially for big brands at bargain prices. However, a major case of online sales of counterfeit cosmetics reported by police in Jiaojiang District, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, is truly shocking.
Recently, under the strong guidance of Taizhou's public security and market supervision departments, the Jiaojiang Branch of the Taizhou Public Security Bureau cracked a case involving the production and sale of counterfeit cosmetics of internationally renowned brands across multiple provinces and cities. They destroyed two production sites and five storage and sales locations, seizing over 1,200 boxes of counterfeit products from five world-famous brands: Amway, Lancôme, Estée Lauder, Chanel, and Dior. The goods are valued at nearly 827 million yuan based on authentic product prices. Currently, 13 suspects charged with producing and selling counterfeit products have been transferred by the procuratorate to the court.

**Toothpaste Leads to Counterfeit Sales Site**
In early February 2016, Jiaojiang police received a report that someone had bought an Amway toothpaste online, but when using it, it did not foam, leading them to suspect it was fake.
Through online information, police discovered that Li, Ke, and others were selling counterfeit "Amway" brand products through Taobao stores in Jiaojiang District, with significant sales amounts. Consequently, the Jiaojiang Branch established a special task force to investigate.
After extensive data analysis and surveillance, the task force identified the sales office and storage/packaging warehouse of Li's group in Taizhou, as well as the sales office of their supplier, Li (another person), in Wenzhou.
On March 15, 2016, police arrested suspects in Taizhou and Wenzhou. That day, the task force captured Ke, Li, and two others at a building on Donghuan Avenue in Jiaojiang District, and seized over 100 boxes of counterfeit "Amway" products worth nearly 200,000 yuan from two warehouses near the site. Later, under pressure, another group member, Wang, surrendered to the Jiaojiang Branch.
Investigation revealed that from July 2015 to March 15, 2016, Li's group in Taizhou sold over 400,000 yuan worth of counterfeit Amway daily necessities on Taobao. A small portion of their stock came from Li (in Wenzhou), but the majority came from Zhang in Harbin. Li (Wenzhou) sold counterfeit "Amway" toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, and other daily necessities worth 180,000 yuan through Taobao, typically buying goods on Taobao and reselling them to lower-tier buyers. Some of his stock also came from Zhang in Harbin.

**Counterfeit Network Emerges**
Following the guiding principle of cracking major cases, dismantling gangs, destroying networks, and tracing sources, the task force analyzed the known case details and traveled to Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, to investigate suspect Zhang. They discovered that Zhang had close dealings with Duan from Yeyi Town, Ye County, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province, with numerous bank records of sales payments.
After half a month of investigation, on April 6 last year, the task force arrested suspects in Harbin and Pingdingshan simultaneously.
That day, police successfully captured Zhang and his wife in Hulan District, Harbin, seizing over 100 boxes of counterfeit Amway daily necessities and cosmetics, and over 200 boxes of counterfeit Lancôme, Estée Lauder, Chanel, and other brand cosmetics.
Investigation revealed that Zhang and his wife had established sales channels in Hulan District, Harbin, starting mid-July 2014, selling counterfeit "Amway" and Lancôme brand cosmetics wholesale to Li, Li (Wenzhou), and others. The counterfeit Lancôme, Estée Lauder, and Chanel products they sold were purchased from Duan and others, while some counterfeit Amway products were bought from Zhang You in Harbin.

**Striking at the Source, Cutting the Network**
The task force arrested Duan and his son in Ye County, Pingdingshan City, seizing over 300 boxes of counterfeit Lancôme and Chanel cosmetics worth over 22 million yuan, along with several production machines.
Investigation revealed that Duan and his son had established production and sales channels in Yeyi Town, Ye County, Henan Province, starting mid-July 2014. They hired others to fill counterfeit Lancôme cosmetics, then sold them wholesale to Zhang in Harbin and across various provinces, with a total value of about 150 million yuan. The empty bottles, packaging boxes, labels, and other raw materials for filling "Lancôme" products were purchased from Liu and Yin in Guangdong.
Subsequently, the task force moved to Guangdong to arrest Liu and Yin. Investigation showed that starting April 2015, Liu and Yin had forged a large number of "Lancôme" empty bottles, packaging boxes, labels, and other items in Guangzhou, selling them to Duan in Pingdingshan for filling counterfeit Lancôme cosmetics, with sales exceeding 1 million yuan.
The task force then returned to Harbin to investigate Zhang You, arresting him on May 6 at No. 172 Qingming Fourth Street, Nangang District, Harbin, and seizing over 400 boxes of counterfeit Amway daily necessities and cosmetics worth over 25 million yuan.
Investigation revealed that Zhang You had established sales channels at that address starting June 2015, selling counterfeit Amway daily necessities wholesale to Zhang in Harbin and others, with a total value of 160 million yuan. He also wholesaled counterfeit Amway products nationwide, with over 100 downstream contacts. Most of his counterfeit goods were purchased from Zheng in Guangdong.
Through further investigation, on June 9 last year, the task force arrested Zheng and Zheng (another person) in Chaoyang District, Shantou City, Guangdong Province, and destroyed the production site.
According to the investigating officers, this case involves a huge amount of money and infringes on the legitimate rights of multiple internationally renowned brands. The counterfeit products are daily necessities and skincare items, seriously harming public interests and people's livelihoods. The successful resolution of this case is of great significance for protecting brand rights and safeguarding consumer interests.

**How Were the Fakes Sold? Let's Look at CCTV News Coverage.**
Not only were the products counterfeit, but selling them required multiple layers of deception. With police coordination, reporters met the owner of the Taobao store where Ms. Chen had purchased the toothpaste. After communication, he revealed the methods used to boost the ranking and sales of counterfeit-selling stores.

**First: Fake Orders (Shua Dan)**
The Taobao store owner said: "You can't run a Taobao store without shua dan, because there are too many people selling the same things. If others' sales rank ahead of yours, consumers won't find your store."
Shua dan involves paying people to pose as customers and make fake purchases to boost the store's ranking and sales, attracting customers with high sales numbers and positive reviews. To make it look real, they even send empty boxes and sign for them, leaving no trace in logistics records.

**Second: Fake Reviews**
The Taobao store owner said that after a shua dan order is completed, the seller often provides the review text and images to the shua dan person. Once paid, the person posts a positive review.

**Creating a False Impression to Deceive Consumers**
The store owner also said that for these counterfeit foreign products, they include shopping receipts and gift bags from abroad to create the illusion of authenticity.

**Paying to Remove Negative Reviews**
If negative reviews accumulate, they often close the store, rebrand, and open another one. According to the store owner, he had operated seven or eight such stores in total. The number of similar complaints received by Alibaba's backend management platform is staggering.

**Comprehensive Governance Needed to Tackle the One-Stop Counterfeiting**
Alibaba is also troubled by the one-stop counterfeiting. The company currently has a team of about 2,000 people dedicated to anti-counterfeiting, but for every batch of violating stores closed, new ones emerge. Among these, the chaos of shua dan is the hardest to govern.
Alibaba staff explained that in recent years, shua dan has evolved, involving large-scale buying and selling of accounts, ID cards, and even some large logistics companies that provide special number segments to help shua dan groups forge fake cargo transit records.
To combat counterfeiting, comprehensive governance is needed. The internet is not a lawless place for producing and selling fake goods. This requires functional departments, online platforms, and manufacturers to strengthen cooperation from online to offline and actively explore effective governance mechanisms. For consumers, online shopping requires more self-protection awareness—not just chasing bargains—and keeping chat records and other transaction evidence, reporting problems promptly.

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