Class 46 has been reading an account of how a counterfeiting network has been using a sophisticated method to mislead possible investigations by the Hungarian authorities into their illegal business. As raids between December 2013 and February 2014 revealed, the company applied its own labels on fake products in order to transport them between different factory sites. During its enforcement actions, Hungarian Customs seized counterfeit detergents, fabric softeners and shampoos of various brands. The raids took place at at least five production operations in and around Budapest and in the Eastern part of the country.

It seems that the organisation labelled filled bottles of counterfeit product with its own brand in an attempt to limit the risk of being caught and to disguise its intent to defraud. The products thus labelled were then dispatched to a warehouse where they were re-labelled with counterfeit labels of well-known brands. “Any transport stopped by the authorities would have been legal because they had applied their own labels”, explains Vis Probandi manage Drlik. “In addition, the organisation avoided any direct connection between the filling facilities and the actual counterfeiting.” Thanks to the successful work of Hungarian Customs, the illegal business of several criminal groups has now been stopped.

Source: Vis Probandi, here