A New Taipei City woman surnamed Lin (林) was on Tuesday arrested for allegedly selling counterfeit Hello Kitty merchandise, after more than 40,000 items were seized from her home.
Lin, an insurance agent, was flagged by police for selling a large amount of underpriced Hello Kitty merchandise on the online shopping Web site Shopee Taiwan for between NT$2 and NT$250.
Police raided Lin’s home and confiscated the counterfeit Hello Kitty merchandise, including stationery, kitchenware and houseware, which police estimated would have been worth at least NT$10 million (US$333,444) if genuine.
Photo: Copy by Hsu Kuo-chen, Taipei Times
Lin was quoted by police as saying that she is a fan of Hello Kitty and that before she started her online business, she used to downsize her collection by giving some items to her friends.
She has been selling Hello Kitty knockoffs from China since last year, she said, adding that on average she earned NT$30,000 a month.
Lin said she did not know that selling the counterfeit items was illegal and thought that only selling fake haute couture is against the law.
Police said they would forward Lin’s case to prosecutors for contravening the Trademark Act (商標法).
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