2 charged in scheme to sell fake Disney pins

[TinkerKat]

2 charged in scheme to sell fake Disney pins
SANTA ANA, Calif., Thu May 12, 10:50 PM
Two Southern California men have been charged with illegally importing about $2 million worth of counterfeit Disney pins from China and selling them over the Internet.

Orange County prosecutors announced the charges against 52-year-old Robert Smyrak of Anaheim and 57-year-old Larry Allred of Walnut on Thursday.

Smyrak is accused of orchestrating a scheme in which he and Allred sent legitimate, collectible Disney pins to a manufacturer in China to be replicated. When the counterfeit pins were sent back to them, they sold the pins online while passing them off as the real deal.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered the scheme in February when they intercepted a package addressed to Smyrak containing more than 150 pounds of pins.

Smyrak and Allred are scheduled to appear in court Friday.

This article just showed up on my newsfeed. Interesting!

 

[chaoscent]

It's about time. This makes me so mad. Disney needs to start cracking down on these people. If we can identify who they are, they should be able to identify them and shut them down.

 

[Doug7856]

Glad that they are doing something about this. Before I knew about fraudulent pins, I purchased a set on ebay. I can't in good conscience trade these pins and I'd like my money back!!

Hopefully these arrests will reduce the counterfeit pins on sale on ebay!

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

 

[pixiewings71]

Ditto!!!!!!

 

[Mickman0_3]

FULL ARTICLE

 

[XGrumpy1]

This has happened before here in Albuquerque. People were collecting pins from the Balloon Fiesta and some became quite valuable.

Then the fakes started showing up on the market. Prices have really never recovered.