A MASSIVE online counterfeit clothing scam was cracked by trading standards officials after the ringleader sold a fake jacket to a representative from the real brand.
Anthony Kaufman sold the Stone Island jacket on eBay in 2006. The buyer worked for Stone Island and tipped off Salford trading standards.
It triggered a two-year investigation which cost £200,000 but ended in Kaufman and five others being convicted of conspiring to sell tens of thousands of pounds worth of fake designer clothes on eBay.
Goods worth £470,000 were seized from storage units in Bury and Salford, Manchester crown court was told.
Undercover officers saw Kaufman taking a number of packages to Brandlesholme Road Post Office in Bury and followed him to his home in Hawkshaw, near Bury and to Safe Store, a self storage company in Crostons Road, Bury, where Kaufman had hired two units. He was responsible for the purchasing of counterfeit goods.
In September 2007 Kaufman's home and storage units were raided by trading standards officers. Eighty bags and boxes of clothing were seized.
Another 110 boxes of clothing were seized from units in Ready Steady Store at Worsley.
Kaufman, 48, from Bury, acted as managing director of the 'firm' and appointed Rennie McFarlane, 23, of Hazelhurst Road, Worsley, and Gregg Baines, 24, from Reddish, Stockport, as his sales mangers. At the time McFarlane was on a business course at Salford University.
All three were then involved in the recruitment of a sales team, targeting students at Leeds University, where Kaufman's son was an undergraduate, and a number of friends and associates of McFarlane.
Kaufman, McFarlane, Baines, Mark Glover, David Matthias and Paul Miller, will be sentenced within the next six weeks.
Four other people were cleared on the direction of the judge. They were: Frank Spender 59, of Platts Drive, Irlam; his daughters Jane Spender 28, of the same address, daughter Helen Spender 30, of Poplar Grove, Cadishead, Salford, and Kathryn Barlow 41, of Briarfield Road, Worsley.
Found not guilty following the trial were Victoria Towers, 46, of Manchester Road, Pendlebury, Salford, and Mario Mina, 49, Manor Drive, Manchester.
The jury could not reach a verdict on Victoria Towers's brother Martin Serene 53, of Cricklewood, London; Michelle Bennett 25, of Woodley, Reading, Berkshire, and Sarah Eason 25, of Curzon Street, Reading, Berkshire. They face a possible re-trial.
Kevin Morgan from eBay's law enforcement team said: "We have worked extremely closely with Salford Trading Standards to help provide evidence which ensured the conviction of these individuals.
"Today's verdict means justice has been done, and it sets a precedent for other criminals considering committing fraud online.
"We hope that these convictions send out a clear signal to fraudsters that they won't get away with criminal activity on our site."
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No surprise someone has been using ebay for years selling fake goods.
No doubt they will be sent to prison because there is no violence and no danger of anyone losing their life.
This is an economic crime. People buy fake because of the price of the real thing. It is as simple as that. The amount of public money spent to protect a 'brand' appears to have no limit.
It's alright buying fakes except when they fall apart two days later!
Selling fake goods? Equals PRISON SENTENCES!
Suicidal driving wrong way up motorway? Equals community service!
Say no more!
get a prison sentence for selling fake gear
get community service for bodily harm the country is nuts!!!!!
Selling fake goods that normal working people can afford and who knows the stuff they buy is fake? I dont see a offence,the only offence is taking some of the greedy grabbing "Label" money off the big boys.Its time that these greedy labels started making goods that the man/woman in the street can afford.I know that people will keep buying fakes because they know the real thing is over priced and sometimes even inferior?.I bought a TAG HUER watch once for six quid it kept great time but my mates son bought a similar one (a real one) that he had to get adjusted ever year because it kept terrible time.So who had the best watch me with the one that cost six quid or adam my mates son that paid nerly five grand?
Fakes are POOR QUALITY;dvd's with blurred smeary pix/bleeding colours/NTSC-PAL judder/no features and NO surround sound for example, so called fake designer clothes made from cheap poor quality materials turned out in sweatshops in Malaysia etc, fake perfumes with chemicals that could cause health problems or skin irritations, cheap electrical goods with poor dangerous or dodgy wiring that could cause a shock hazard or fire or could explode, toys with loose parts/high lead content paint etc and dangerous electrical/electronic toys that could end up in burns/cuts/serious injuries, need I go on? Everytime you buy poor quality fakes of whatever it may be that you are buying, not only will the products most likely be of dubious poor shoddy or even dangerous quality but you could also be funding drugs and criminal activities-just remember that and think about it next time you see a copy of something that is so temptingly cheap over a good quality expensive well made product.
Maybe if yer man that was driving up the motorway backwards had some counterfeits he'd get away with it?!! ha ha
- Anyone that cant spot a fake is priceless anyway.
I pity the poor sods that buy this counterfeit rubbish, I mean why do they feel they have to? Do you have to wear designer goods in the UK? Everywhere else in the world, except for the Lebanon wear their labels on the INSIDE of their clothing. People with money don´t feel the need to advertise a designer.
Wrote 12/11/2009
My already dwindling Faith in the Justice system has been has been so badly mottled with the sentences handed out to The alleged "Sales Managers" involved in this case, Anthony Kauffman was nothing more than a Glorified Groomer for students, who could of easily been your readers own children, students - Living on a pittance until this spineless bully of a man offers them a 'golden Carrot' of some drinking money for the weekend to digitally prostitute there own eBay accounts for his immoral gains whilst throwing the odd scrap from the masters table to dissuade there better judgment. These Boys, and I say boys because they were 19 and 20 when this devil crept his way in to there lives, are now currently serving the 1st Month of there 12 Months incarceration in one of Manchester’s Largest high profile, high security prisons, locked up with Rapist, Murderers and Fiends of every similar nature because people like Kauffman know exactly where to strike and how, Preying on the neediness of innocents. So please can you take a minute to consider the worried parents, friends and family of these boys who are still waiting to hear from them as they scramble through the system to contact the outside world, so that they simply can let us know that they are well and safe. 12 Months is really a life sentence for these boys who will lose there morally acquired homes and jobs for a mistake that was made 4 years ago. I just pray that no one else has to endure the worry and stress that has loomed like a black cloud over these boys heads for the last 2 years.