Overview of the incident:

Core tip: The police seized more than 300,000 pieces of counterfeit brand-name chocolate. A box of counterfeit chocolate costing about 300 yuan was resold level by level and sold as wedding candies. The price after the store can be as high as more than 700 yuan per box. Detailed introduction:

As the Spring Festival approaches, many couples choose to get married for the good fortune of "double happiness". Wedding candies are indispensable at weddings, but have you ever thought that wedding candies can also be fake? Recently, the police seized more than 300,000 counterfeit brand-name chocolates. A box of counterfeit chocolates cost about 300 yuan. After being resold at one level, the price after being sold to a wedding candy shop can be as high as more than 700 yuan per box.

The "Counterfeit Famous Brand Chocolate Case" involved tens of millions of yuan

A group of criminals produced counterfeit chocolates in a workshop renovated from a private house in Wuhu, Anhui. A box of chocolates cost about 300 yuan. The counterfeit chocolates were eventually sold to lower-level wholesalers for more than 500 yuan. After resale at the first level, the price after being sold to the wedding candy shop could be as high as more than 700 yuan per box. In the end, the crime occurred because the owner of a wedding shop sent counterfeit chocolates to a regular manufacturer for authenticity testing. The police seized more than 300,000 counterfeit brand-name chocolates in one fell swoop, involving tens of millions of yuan.

Recently, the People's Court of Xinwu District, Wuxi City issued a first-instance verdict on this extremely serious "counterfeit brand-name chocolate case". Eight defendants including Zhang were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from one to five years. The officers were put on probation and fined ranging from 10,000 yuan to 1.85 million yuan, with the total amount of fines for 8 people reaching 6.12 million yuan.

The chocolates were all tested to be counterfeit, involving brands such as "Dove" and "Ferrero Rocher"

In February 2015, Boss Ji of a wedding candy shop in Wujin District, Changzhou City received many inquiries. Customers complained that the Dove chocolate they sold did not taste right. Therefore, Boss Ji called the middle wholesaler Xu, but Xu said that "there is no problem with the product." Boss Ji contacted the Chinese manufacturer of Dove chocolate and mailed the chocolate he wholesaled from Xu as a sample. The test results showed that these "Dove" chocolates were all fakes.

The Chinese manufacturer of Dove immediately reported the incident to its parent company, Mars Group of the United States, and called the police in Wuxi. Wuxi police investigation revealed that the counterfeit chocolates sold by Xu were wholesaled from the candy shop opened by Hong in Wuxi Tangnan Mall. The police followed the clues all the way and discovered that behind this was a huge case of chocolate manufacturers and sellers of internationally renowned brands such as "Dove" and "Ferrero" across Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui.

The owner of a wedding candy shop buys wedding candy in large quantities and can earn hundreds of yuan by reselling a box.

Hong from Yancheng started selling wedding candy in Wuxi Tangnan Mall ten years ago. In 2014, Hong met Wang from Anhui who came to promote "Dove". The chocolate Wang brought was said to be homemade and cheap. Hong could see that Wang’s chocolates could be fake and real, and the profits behind them were high.

So, in less than half a year from October 2014 to March 2015, Hong purchased 749 boxes of counterfeit "Dove" chocolate from Wang at a price of more than 500 yuan per box. Later, Hong sold the counterfeit "Dove" chocolate to Xu from Changzhou at a price of more than 600 yuan per box, and Xu sold it to the owner of Wujin Wedding Candy Shop Ji at a price of more than 700 yuan per box. In addition, Qian, the owner of a wedding candy shop in Nanjing, also bought and sold about 600 boxes of counterfeit "Dove" chocolates at the same low price from another Anhui businessman named Zhang who came to promote "Dove" chocolate. The reporter learned that the wholesale price of this type of authentic "Dove" chocolate on the market is more than 800 yuan per box, and the retail price is more than 900 yuan.

From packaging, trademarks to products, it is difficult to tell the authenticity

Zhang, Wang, and Xu are all from Wuhu, Anhui. The three of them have foreign debts and are tight on money. The three *** jointly invested 500,000 yuan, and since 2014 they have successively recruited people to produce counterfeit "Dove" brand chocolate in a workshop renovated from a private house in Wuhu. It is understood that Zhang received 350,000 yuan in dividends at the end of the first month, while Wang and Xu each received 170,000 yuan. Later, due to uneven distribution of benefits, conflicts arose between Wang and Zhang. Wang asked his relatives to set up a separate business, and found Huang's advertising company in Wenzhou, Zhejiang to make "Ferrero Rocher" chocolates, and sold the counterfeit "Ferrero Rocher" chocolates to Hong, Qian and others. It is understood that the brand-name chocolates they produce are difficult to distinguish from packaging, trademarks to products, so many consumers have been deceived.