Trading standards close down Manchester EBay Scam
A large scale counterfeit clothing scam was finally brought down by trading standard officers after catching the ringleader in a setup similar to busting a drug dealer who sells to an undercover cop, although in this case the sale involved a bad jacket knock-off.
Anthony Kaufamn, the ringleader of a group that sold over ten thousands of pounds of faux designer clothes via eBay, make the mistake of selling a Stone Island jacket on eBay to a buyer who worked for Stone Island in 2006.
The buyer reported the sale to the Salford trading standards that launched an investigation that costs over ?200,000. In the end, Kaufman and five others were arrested.
The Manchester crown court was told that over ?470,000 in goods was taken from storage units used by the counterfeiters in storage units that were located in Salford and Bury.
Kaufman was the manager of the team who was caught after undercover officers followed him from the Road Post in Bury to his home and then to a self storage unit. After his home was raided in 2007 over eighty bags and boxes of clothing items were taken into evidence.
The team employed by Kaufman included Rennie McFarlane, Gregg Baines, Mark Glover, David Matthias, and Paul Miller most of whom were in their early twenties and enrolled in classes at Salford University.
EBay issued a statement regarding the outcome of the investigation that stated the company worked closely with the Salford Trading Standards and hopes that the verdict passed on the five people will stand as proof to other criminals that fraud will not be tolerated on the online trading platform.
