The defendants advertised and sold the counterfeit through social networks on the territory of Ukraine. Police investigators sent an indictment to the court.
In May of last year, the cyber police of the Lviv region, together with the investigators of the Lviv District Police Department No. 1, exposed three people who, under the guise of original goods of a global brand, were selling low-quality fakes on the Internet at attractive prices.
Later, the law enforcement officers completed the pre-trial investigation under Part 4 of Art. 190 (Fraud) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and referred the indictment to the court.
Also, operatives of the cyber police together with detectives of the Department of Security and Intelligence in the region under the procedural guidance of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office
documented the fact that the defendants kept counterfeit goods in rented apartments in Lviv and Vinnytsia. They provided a sign of similarity of their product with the original with the help of polygraphic packaging products.
There, the attackers took photos of counterfeit goods for advertising on social networks. Later, they implemented it through specially created Instagram accounts. Customers received orders by mail within the territory of Ukraine.
During searches of the places of residence of the accused, the police seized more than 150 counterfeit items, as well as packaging and advertising materials, electronic information carriers.
In this way, the company – the owner of the brand – suffered losses of more than UAH 1.2 million. The defendants voluntarily reimbursed these funds.
Currently, the pre-trial investigation has been completed. An indictment was sent to the court under Part 2 of Article 229 (Illegal use of a mark for goods and services, brand name, qualified indication of the origin of goods) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sanction of the article provides for punishment in the form of a fine from three thousand to ten thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens.
Cyber Police Department
National Police of Ukraine