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LA police seizes more than $10 million in fake iPods, iPhones, PSPs
"This was a well-funded operation, and the counterfeits looked very authentic," Ron Boyd, chief of the LA police force, told the Los Angeles Times. "Our layered, multi-agency approach to security and theft investigations led to success. We're proud of the teamwork that happens on a continuous basis to thwart consumer fraud, keep our port safe and enable our agencies to pursue cases to fruition and criminal prosecution."
The case began with stolen cargo that led officials to several downtown Los Angeles and Vernon locations in December 2010 and January 2011. Brothers Edward Zahab, 40, and Bahram Zahab, 45, have been arrested in LA. Edward has been charged with three felony counts of the sale of counterfeit goods while Bahram has been charged with one felony count of the same crime.
A buyer might not have noticed anything wrong with the products until he or she got home and tried to hook it up with his or her computer. The goods were shipped from Asia as parts meant to be reassembled and labeled before being sold. In addition to LA officials, the investigation also involved the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, the Border Enforcement Security Task Force, the California Highway Patrol's Cargo Theft Interdiction Program, and the Vernon Police Department.
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User Comments (15)
Post a comment|
emzdhr
on February 10, 2011 1:51 PM |
wow.. they must be crying now.. |
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TomSEA
on February 10, 2011 2:03 PM |
"The goods were shipped from Asia..." Most likely China. No one is ever going to take them seriously as long as they're in the counterfeit mass-production business. |
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Guest
on February 10, 2011 2:31 PM |
Well those iPods look pretty authentic, but those PSPs look super fake. I still can't believe people fall for this crap all the time, just because they either don't research these things, or are suckers for what they think are "good deals". |
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dedparrot
on February 10, 2011 2:33 PM |
TomSEA said: "The goods were shipped from Asia..." Most likely China. No one is ever going to take them seriously as long as they're in the counterfeit mass-production business. People already take Chine seriously because they're just very hard to ignore. China is the business capital of the world. |
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jetkami
on February 10, 2011 2:41 PM |
China is a puppet. They provide slave labor to the world and only a few get rich and a small minority make it to a shaky middle class.China has been in this position in history before..they always get screwed by more powerful countries multi-national banks. |
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aj_the_kidd
on February 10, 2011 3:39 PM |
See now this is something i can see being valid for the DoHS, not shutting down Streaming video websites. |
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Guest
on February 10, 2011 10:54 PM |
How can i get one of those? |
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Royalgok
on February 11, 2011 6:35 AM |
TomSEA said: "The goods were shipped from Asia..." Most likely China. No one is ever going to take them seriously as long as they're in the counterfeit mass-production business. Err.. Ever wondered where your authentic iPod is made in? |
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dividebyzero
on February 11, 2011 1:24 PM |
seized products worth an estimated street value of more than $1.4 million....operation had generated more than $7 million in profits....Our...investigations led to success Seize $1.4m, unable to seize $7m. Looks like the L.A.Police have a liberal interpretation of what "success" entails. At least the confiscation of a few counterfeit iWhatevers should translate into lower numbers of counterfeit hipsters in the wild.
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mikeusru
on February 11, 2011 1:51 PM |
lol for anyone who buys an ipod off a random guy on the street. Ebay has buyer protection and i'm still weary... |
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Guest
on February 11, 2011 6:56 PM |
if you look closely, all the boxes say "MP4" player on them. Were they repackaging them as apple ipods or something? |
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red1776
on February 11, 2011 7:05 PM |
Seize $1.4m, unable to seize $7m. Looks like the L.A.Police have a liberal interpretation of what "success" entails. At least the confiscation of a few counterfeit iWhatevers should translate into lower numbers of counterfeit hipsters in the wild. Right! I think the ipods were real....the police were fake. |
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captaincranky
on February 12, 2011 12:16 AM |
lol for anyone who buys an ipod off a random guy on the street. Oh, they make it so hard to turn down, by tempting you with a free "genuine Rolex" that gets thrown in with every fake iPhone. Ebay has buyer protection and i'm still weary...
At least the confiscation of a few counterfeit iWhatevers should translate into lower numbers of counterfeit hipsters in the wild. Are you suggesting that there's another kind of hipster? You may however, have accidentally come up with a great new age insult! "He's as plastic as his iPhone". (real or otherwise). Works for me. I figure the real iPons leave via the front door, and the counterfeit iPons leave via the back door of the same Chinese factory. OK, I have a slight weakness for conspiracy theories. Hold everything, I just made a huge breakthrough in regards to a possible new Apple product! It's like this, an "iPon", would be better for a woman on the go than an "iPad", would it not? Marketing genius, if I do say so myself. |
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treetops
on February 12, 2011 9:15 PM |
Go bust some meth labs you panzys. |
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TJGeezer
on February 14, 2011 8:00 PM |
"But officer, we're not selling these! These are all just for... ad agency photo sessions! Yeah, that's it. They're just models!" |
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