Mom-and-pop operation produced $19M in fake Apple products
On Monday, police in Beijing shut down a factory that produces counterfeit Apple iPhones; reports indicate the factory made some 41,000 fake iPhones with a value of approximately $19 million.
According to reports, police first raided the factory in May and ultimately arrested nine people, including the husband-and-wife leaders.
Reuters reports that the ringleaders hail from the hardware manufacturing city of Shenzhen and set up the Beijing factory in January. Workers would repackage smartphone hardware as iPhones, which were then exported to unknown locations.
Authorities confiscated 1,400 handsets and lots of accessories on the May 14 raid, according to the report, which also suggests Beijing police acted off a tip from “U.S. authorities who seized some of the fake devices.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that, while counterfeiting is comparatively common in China, “the case of the Beijing-based firm is exceptional both for its scale and its overseas reach.”
China is a huge growth market for Apple based on the popularity of its products coupled with the staggering consumer appetite for mobile services and potential market capitalization.
Apple CEO Tim Cook recently told The Wall Street Journal that China could eventually become the company’s biggest market. “We’re just getting started there.”
