A Sutton woman has been ordered to pay £4,100 for selling counterfeit One Direction, Frozen and Hello Kitty goods on eBay and marketing copyrighted Disney products at school and church fairs.
Jane Pamela Alfonso, 52, of Morley Road in Sutton, sold counterfeit ribbons, bows and accessories showing known registered trademarks and copyright images.
The goods were revealed as fake following an investigation by Sutton Trading Standards after initial information from another trading standards officer.
Croydon Magistrates Court heard that Ms Alfonso had an eBay shop where she traded as Starlady 22.
Sutton Trading Standards made several test purchases of items from her eBay shop and when they were proved counterfeit officers obtained an entry warrant to her Sutton address.
There they seized items and materials linked to advertisements from her eBay shop and made contact with relevant trademark representatives.
Around a third of the items sold on eBay were non-trademarked items. Between October 21 2013 andOctober 22 2014 the gross sales of the counterfeit goods was £5121.63, with fees payable to eBay of £417.38, leaving the total net amount of £4704.25.
The court also heard that between December 2012 and December 2014 Ms Alfonso had attended 15 sales and fairs at schools and churches where she had sold £1273.80 of goods.
Of these, £411.90 were genuine items and £861.90 were counterfeit, representing two-thirds of sales.
She told Sutton Trading Standards officers that the goods came from Ali Express in China and produced invoices to show this.
Ms Alfonso pleaded guilty to 10 offences under The Trade Marks Act 1994, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, and The Fraud Act 2006 for the sale and possession of counterfeit goods, engaging in unfair commercial practices and carrying on a business in a fraudulent manner.
Ms Alfonso was ordered to pay the £4100 penalty within 14 days and an order was made for all goods seized to be destroyed.
Councillor Nick Emmerson, Lead Councillor of Trading Standards at Sutton Council, said: “We believe in a fair borough and counterfeit goods take business away from our legitimate traders. I want to pay credit to Sutton’s Trading Standards team for their thorough investigation.
“Anyone thinking of importing goods into this country must ensure they are authentic, and people purchasing them must make sure that they are genuine goods.”
Anybody who believes they have purchased counterfeit goods can call the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 03454 04 05 06 for advice.
