3 People Jailed For Selling Fake Branded Goods in Far East Plaza

I’m just as surprised as you when you read the headline:

Sell fake branded goods will kana jail one? Then those online sellers all treading on thin ice ah?

Well, as a matter of fact, yes: it’s an offence under the Trade Marks Act, and it seems like these three fellows knew about it.

Because it’s not just about selling fake branded goods: it’s an elaborate scheme to siam the police, just like a plot from TVB.

Here’s what happened.

Tale of Fake Goods, Fake Identity and Fake Bosses

So, there’s this guy called Liang who got his fake goods from a China supplier. To avoid police detection, he’d have one product that’s “not fake”.

Liang has two shops and put the latest products in Shop A and the off-season ones in Shop B.

And Liang doesn’t just stop there: he got a friend, Goh, to sign the lease agreement for the shop and open a company account. Also, Goh would need to take the rap if the shops were ever raided.

Why would Goh help Liang, you ask.

That’s because Goh owes Liang money from a gambling debt, so for that effort, Liang would offset the debt by about $800 to $2,000 per month.

So now we’ve got a rich boss getting a poor guy to take the rap.

In comes the third person, Esther.

Esther, a Sales Assistant Who Earned $15,000 a Month

Esther is Liang’s wife and she has only one role: to manage both the shops. For that, she’d be paid $15,000 a month.

Gotta admit that she could well be the best-paid sales assistant in Singapore.

Also, Liang engaged his cousin to help out, and instructed her to only display the fake goods during weekends to avoid police detection.

But that’s not all for Esther.

She, just like her husband, had done the exact same thing even before her husband started it all: back in 2014, she, too, opened a shop to sell fake goods and got a fall guy to take the rap. It’s unknown if she’s charged for that offence.

I told you it sounds like some TVB drama, didn’t I?

Everyone’s Jailed

Liang was sentenced to one year in jail and fined $3,000, while Goh was jailed for three months and two weeks, and fined $5,000.

Esther was jailed for eleven months.

The moral of the story?

You can hide behind some fall guy, but you can’t run. B

Because remember: both Liang and Esther had “engaged” someone to take the rap for them. Both of them are now in jail.