MASSIVE EBAY DVD POLICE RAID

[mr.glow]

missed the first bit on aca - anyone catch the name of the seller?

[calsof]

That ID has been around since April 2010

[no_tv*10]

3 years of brilliant feedback!!!

[thecatspjs]

loads of revisions 48 :O:O

thats a huge amount of revisions, even for that volume seller

[digital*ghost]

The thing about these counterfeit DVDs, is that they are such exact copies, the only way to tell if they're fake is if they are professionally examined at a forensic level. So how would you know if you even had one, that's been laundered through a middleman or two?

There are quite a few visual signs of fake discs, it depends on how professional the manufacturing is. 

I'm not greatly informed about the quality of the copies this seller had, but I bought a second-hand DVD (not from the seller being referred to here, or indeed a seller I would suspect as being involved in such a thing), and it looked like a 100% genuine article to me. The sleeve insert was very good quality and gave nothing away, as was the picture disc. 

If it had actually worked, I would have been none the wiser, but it didn't so I took a closer look and knew within seconds I had a pirated copy then.

While it had myriad official looking run-out codes, it said Made In Hong Kong and the SID code was for a German manufacturing plant. 😉

[izabsmiling]

MAN ARRESTED AND CHARGED OVER MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR COUNTERFEIT DVD DISTRIBUTION NETWORK17APR 2013

SYDNEY –

On 16 April, Australian Customs Services detained a 37 year-old male attempting to board an overseas flight after he was found to be carrying over $15,000 cash, as well as a large quantity of foreign currency. Detectives from Quakers Hill Police attended the airport and arrested the man who was later charged with Copyright and proceeds of crime offences.

Over the last two weeks Detectives from Quakers Hill Police, with the support of investigators from the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), have conducted search warrant operations on a residential address in Marayong, a factory unit at Kings Park and a storage unit in Blacktown, seizing over 1.2 million High Quality Counterfeit (HQC) ‘Region 4’ movie DVDs and TV box sets, multiple computers and cell phones, company records, artwork and promotional inserts, a shrink wrapping machine, and over $20,000 in cash.

As a result of the police operations, a 29 year-old female from Marayong was arrested on 4th April and is currently released under bail conditions.

It will be alleged that the syndicate were using multiple names, residential and business addresses, and post office boxes to import the High Quality Counterfeit (HQC) ‘Region 4’ DVDs into Australia from an overseas source. These HQC DVDs, accompanying artwork and promotional inserts were then allegedly assembled and repackaged in a factory unit at Kings Park, NSW, before being sold on the internet auction site eBay for approximately 30% off the Recommended Retail Price (RRP). Unsuspecting customers would have been under the impression that the DVDs and box sets they were purchasing were authentic.

It will also be alleged that over 65,000 High Quality Counterfeit DVDs were sold on two eBay accounts, totalling sales in excess of $1.6 million, and that the HQC discs were also being sold to unsuspecting small retail outlets in a number of states.

Penalties for copyright crimes under the Commonwealth Copyright Act are a maximum of $60,500 and/or 5 years jail per offence.

http://www.afact.org.au/index.php/news

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

It will also be alleged that over 65,000 High Quality Counterfeit DVDs were sold on two eBay accounts, totalling sales in excess of $1.6 million, and that the HQC discs were also being sold to unsuspecting small retail outlets in a number of states.

Penalties for copyright crimes under the Commonwealth Copyright Act are a maximum of $60,500 and/or 5 years jail per offence.

http://www.afact.org.au/index.php/news

would that be 65,000 x $60,500 and/or 65,000 x 5 years jail if they are charged and convicted of 65,000 offences?  That's a lot of money and/or time in jail.  Geez, if they get 65,000 x 5 years jail then when they get out in 325,000 years time eBay might have changed the feedback system to allow negs for buyers again!

[kustomizer99]

'at least ebay shut them down very quickly, usually takes them a while.

perhaps it is the bad press that made them move quick'

If eBay had continued to enable them to sell AFTER knowing they were criminals, they would have been liable themselves.