Gang gives made-in-China windshields fake luxury brand labels

Made-in-China windshields to be sold under fake luxury brands at a warehouse in Hue City in December 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Vo Thanh

Police in central Vietnam have arrested five people accused of buying car windshields from a Chinese producer and labeling them as products of Toyota, Mercedes, Kia, Ford, Hyundai, and Mazda.

Tran Quoc Loi, 46, Dang Van Minh Hieu, 18, Le Minh Tung and Le Thi Nga, both 30, and Ho Van Loi, 28, are under investigation for “trading counterfeit products,” Thua Thien-Hue Province police said Thursday.

Also involved, Trinh Thi Kim Nhu, 36, is banned from leaving her hometown of the province’s Huong Thuy Town to serve the investigation.

Loi is identified as the mastermind.

He told police that he bought “a large amount” of car windshields from China’s Xinyi Automobile Glass (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., removed the logo and labeled them as products of Toyota, Mercedes and others.

For each Chinese windshield, the group sells them on the market at prices higher than the original prices by 300-500%.

Tran Quoc Loi (2nd, L) when arrested by police of Thua Thien – Hue Province, February 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Tran Hong

Police said it was not clear when they started the business, but they identified that between April and November last year, the group had imported 5,000 windshields from Shenzhen on three occasions.

They were busted after market inspectors checked a store selling car components on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street in Hue carrying the fake goods.