Trading standards don’t like Facebook fraudsters
A COUNTY Durham woman has been fined more than £2,500 after being caught selling counterfeit clothing on Facebook.
Claire Hubert, 40, was snared after a Trading Standards team executed a search warrant at the defendant’s home in October last year.
More than 720 items of clothing and accessories from 59 brands were found in nearly every room of the property on West Street, Leadgate.
The loft area was entirely filled with counterfeit products which were “displayed as you would expect to see in a retail premises”, the council’s solicitor outlined.
Footwear was displayed on top of boxes and many items bore price tags.
Hubert, who was present during the raid, was using Facebook pages to advertise the goods for sale.
Officers seized T-shirts, bags, scarves, gloves, belts, towels, footwear, jewellery and sportswear claiming to be produced by brands including Hugo Boss, Ugg, Ted Baker, Adidas, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Mulberry.
Samples of the items seized were examined by representatives of the relevant brands and found to be counterfeit.
Hubert attended an interview but did not respond to questioning. She later prepared a statement in which she admitted supplying counterfeit goods.
The defendant said it started when she bought a few items of counterfeit goods during a trip to Manchester. Things then escalated and more goods were bought from the city.
Hubert said she had also bought counterfeit goods from Turkey and sold the goods to her friends via Facebook.
In court, the council applied for the items seized which can be debranded to be given to a charity which provides sports kit to disadvantaged young people.
In Hubert’s defence, magistrates heard people buying the goods from her knew they were not genuine and that she had not benefited massively financially from doing so.
The court was also told Hubert is unsure what will happen to her job as a result of the prosecution.
Magistrates imposed a fine of £488 and ordered her to pay the council costs of £2,142 and a victim surcharge of £48, a total of £2,678.
They also ordered the forfeiture of the goods and the destruction of those which can not be debranded.
Owen Cleugh, the council’s consumer protection manager, said: “We hope the financial penalty in this case will deter anyone from dealing in counterfeit goods and we are also pleased some of the items our officers seized will be able to be reused for the benefit of disadvantaged people.”