Two Vietnamese men appeared in Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court on Monday for allegedly selling bottles of fake shower lotion.
Nguyen Yang Nhik, 24, and Lam Thai Chou, 36, were arrested with 31 boxes of fake shower lotion at the Kompong Tralach district market on Saturday, police said, after a complaint was received from the company whose product the men were allegedly counterfeiting.
“We seized 20 boxes of Feira and 11 of Siutouch shower lotion from two Vietnamese sellers who were the middlemen,” said Chun Dara, the provincial chief of economic crimes. “The Feira fake lotion costs 10,000 riel [$2.50] per bottle in the market but the original one costs 15,000 riel [$3.75] per bottle.”
The duo are thought to be middlemen who purchased the products from a wholesaler in Vietnam and then arranged to pick the delivery up at the market, Mr. Dara said.
You Sok, the owner of the Pich Beauty Company, which makes the Feira brand, had complained about the suspected counterfeiting.
“There are more than 20 cases of people selling our fake products in Phnom Penh and across almost every province,” he said Monday.
Mr. Sok added that sales had dropped between 30 to 50 percent since 2010 and first complained to the police about suspected counterfeit goods in 2008. Along with undercutting prices, Mr. Sok also believes customers have lost faith in his products due to the poor quality of the fake products.
“The customer will lose trust in my products and the fake products will affect the customers’ health, resulting in skin and lung cancer,” he said.
