Operation 'Trinchete' of the Customs Surveillance Service

• Three large pavilions have been located in Hernani (Gipuzkoa) and one in Bidart (France), and three people allegedly involved have been arrested.

• The merchandise – footwear, bags, clothing, jewelry and accessories – was introduced into Spain from China to later be offered on Internet platforms, both for direct sale and second-hand.

• More than a hundred major luxury brands have been affected

• The organization even falsified certificates of authenticity and purchase receipts in official brand stores and simulated hundreds of different profiles to make it appear that the products were being offered by different private advertisers.

April 5, 2024.- The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency in the Basque Country has intervened more than 22,000 counterfeit products that simulated luxury brands in industrial pavilions in Hernani (Gipuzkoa) and Bidart (France). The organization responsible for the merchandise received the items from China and offered them on very popular Internet platforms for direct and second-hand sales between individuals, thus achieving their distribution throughout Europe, thereby harming more than one hundred luxury brands.

The operation began within the framework of the control actions of foreign trade operations that Customs Surveillance of the Basque Country carries out as the State Fiscal Shelter, both organically and functionally, under the Regional Customs and Special Taxes Unit of the AEAT, after Several shipments of counterfeit goods of a high level of quality from China were detected in a parcel company.

Tracking the shipments led investigators to three industrial pavilions in the town of Hernani rented by a company owned by Chinese citizens. In the warehouses, it was found that products were received daily via courier companies.

After these actions, Customs Surveillance investigators learned of the possible existence of a fourth pavilion in the French town of Bidart. Once the collaboration mechanisms between the Customs of Spain and France were activated, French Customs officials appeared at the warehouse and also located counterfeit merchandise.

In these four warehouses, more than 22,000 counterfeit items were seized – footwear, bags, clothing, jewelry and accessories – from more than one hundred brands, all of them high-end and luxury.

Sophistication in counterfeits

In the case of luxury items, counterfeiting also affected the boxes of the products themselves, the certificates of authenticity, the invoices, and even the organization had falsified receipts for supposed purchases in the brands' official stores in Paris. and other cities, between one and two years old. All this in order to offer the potential buyer an appearance of authenticity to be able to offer the products at a high price on Internet platforms.

The marketing of these counterfeit items was carried out through meticulously designed advertisements on the most popular digital platforms for sales between individuals. These advertisements, with detailed images of the items, had the main purpose of deceiving potential buyers of used or semi-new products from prestigious brands. To do this, they created hundreds of fictitious profiles simulating the ownership of the product by particular advertisers.

Once the product was sold, they labeled and sent the package directly from their warehouse to the final buyer anywhere in Europe. This form of marketing allowed them to distribute products without geographical restrictions, facilitating the expansion of their operations throughout the continent and making it difficult for authorities to monitor them.

The three detainees, in order to give an appearance of legality, created a company with registered office in the warehouses seized, where they had an office with computers and printers to manage purchases directly from China and to manage labeling and sales. . The detainees and seized effects have been placed at the disposal of the Investigative Court 2 of San Sebastián.