Chinese government closes fake Apple store and will begin investigations to curb the practice altogether

Imagine an Apple store on China. The architecture resembles that of traditional stores, employees wear blue shirts with white apples, products are displayed on light wooden tables, the service counter carries out repairs for their iGadgets… everything seems right, but the truth is that it is a long way from being an official store.

Believe it or not, this is an extremely common phenomenon in the country of the Wall: fake Apple stores practically identical to the originals – in some cases, even the employees think they are working in an official space of the company – with equally counterfeit products, indistinguishable to the less trained eyes but of clearly inferior quality. Now, the Chinese government is (finally) taking action on the problem.

The newspaper South China Morning Post brought the details: Beijing authorities confiscated products, fined ￥ 270,000 (~ R $ 140,000) and forced the closure of one of these fake Apple stores, putting their managers on a black list of merchants who will not be able to operate other stores in Chinese territory.

Law enforcement officers deactivate fake Apple store in China

In the “Apple Service Center” closed by the authorities, counterfeit products were sold and technical assistance used fake parts to carry out repairs, compromising the integrity and safety of the devices taken by consumers. Payment was made using 3D barcodes scanned on customers’ cell phones, which received a receipt with the Apple logo and the words “Apple Service Center”.

The closed store is part of a company called Beijing Zheng Yuan Henri Technology, which has a website and describes itself as one of the largest service providers for mobile devices in China, with more than 30,000 partner companies. That is, be afraid.

Now, the Chinese government is expected to continue the work, investigating more fake stores and closing any where any irregularities are found. It is not possible to say whether the action has an Apple finger, which may well have pressured Beijing to take action; the fact is that the days of fake Apple stores in the most populous country in the world are numbered. Or not.

via Cult of Mac