A TORREVIEJA couple have been arrested for selling fake luxury high-end branded leather goods to auction houses across Spain.
The Policia Nacional said the quality of the counterfeits was so good that they managed to pass authenticity checks conducted by the dealers.
The fraud was boosted by the duo going to great lengths to produce convincing-looking copies of certificates of authenticity issued by the manufacturers like Chanel and Louis Vuitton to hoodwink the auction venues.
A Ukrainian woman and Austrian man were detained at their home where police found eight counterfeit handbags, a belt and four sunglasses that were going to be sold at auction priced between €2,000 and €10,000.
Three labels and a lanyard bearing luxury brand logos were also found and removed.
The police said that those goods alone would have accrued around €50,000 in damage to the original brands.
Managers of a well-known Madrid auction house contacted the police last September about four handbags in their possession from two prestigious bands.
Some of the items including the packaging, stitching finishes, and certificates of authenticity turned out to be fakes- something confirmed by police technical experts.
A further complaint took investigators to a Barcelona auction house which had uncovered two suspicious handbags which also came from the couple.
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