Local company prosecuted for selling counterfeit sneakers through influencers, illegally profiting over TWD80 million

　Since 2021, the responsible person of Fansi Technology Co., Ltd. (transliteration of the company, 凡斯科技有限公司; hereinafter referred to as “Fansi”), SU Yi-Qun (“Su”) and his girlfriend, LIU Zhi-Jun (“Liu”) had taken advantage of their employee’s lack of knowledge and made them contact over a hundred of popular influencers to initiate and run group-buy sales of sneakers of well-known brands, such as, Nike, CONVERSE, adidas, and VANS.  However, these sneakers were later found to be counterfeit and involved illicit profits over TWD80 million, for which Taipei District Prosecutors Office prosecuted both Su and Liu on charges of trademark infringement and obtaining property by fraud.  

　The Taipei District Prosecutors Office directed the Second Special Police Corps, Criminal Investigation Brigade to conduct a search on the premises of Fansi and seized a total of 3789 pairs of sneakers, among which 3553 pairs were confirmed to be counterfeit, with only a small number of them being genuine.  Su and Liu acquired these sneakers from unknown source in China and then used their unsuspecting employees to contact influencers on the Facebook and Instagram in the names of Fansi and another livestream influencer, TongMeng (@tm.teacher), falsely claiming that Fansi sold genuine branded sneakers and seeking cooperation with them to initiate group-buy event.  Misled by the false pretense, these influencers mistakenly provided their assistance in initiating the group-buy event to attract consumer purchases.  This scheme was unraveled after buyers noticed irregularities of sneakers and reported the matter to the police.  

　According to the prosecutor’s investigation, there were 401 victims reporting this matter to the police.  Su and Liu leveraged these influencers’ social media influence, causing the scale of damages to rapidly expand within just a few months and leading to significant harm to the involved trademark owners and economy.  Also, the illicit proceeds generated from sale of counterfeit sneakers and athletic shoes amounted to over TWD80.68 million from July 2021 through April 26, 2022.  Su and Liu are prosecuted for Trademark Act violation and obtaining property by fraud.  (Released 2025.04.22)  
/CCS