PandaBuy Chinese online marketplace for counterfeit goods facing police investigation and data leak

• Merijn Metsemakers

  Text editor online

PandaBuy, a Chinese online marketplace for counterfeit goods, is in trouble. The Chinese police have launched an investigation after brand owners filed a lawsuit against the company. A few days earlier, data from more than 1.3 million customers was leaked after a cyber attack.

The PandaBuy site is still working, but many functions are no longer working. On the PandaBuy channel on the Discord and Reddit chat platforms, the company confirms that this is the result of a police investigation. Customers are concerned and fear that fake Nikes or Airpods will no longer be delivered.

The owners of the brand are represented by the law firm Rouse. It is not known what brands they are. according to Rose Chinese police have searched warehouses and headquarters in Hangzhou. A network of traders linked to the website is also under investigation, Rouse said.

“As far as we know, this is the first time that a Chinese online market has been tackled at this level,” says transport economist Roel Gevaers. “PandaBuy is a famous player.” Law firm Rouse calls PandaBuy a “gigantic empire”.

It is not clear how many users Pandabuy has. The app has already been downloaded over a million times in Europe. React, a Dutch non-profit organization that takes action around the world against brand counterfeiting, sees the platform’s popularity among young people buying fake fake clothes there.

According to React, this is due to social media marketing campaigns and the ease with which things can be ordered. “Before these websites appeared, fake goods were mostly shipped from China in larger shipments. The middlemen then resold the products. That step has now been stopped. pass by. With a few clicks you can easily order a pair of shoes,” said a spokesperson.

NOS Stories also spoke to young people who are familiar with PandaBuy. Many use it:

Half of young people in the Netherlands do not know that buying fake goods is illegal, according to customs. There are also PandaBuy customers who are aware of the risks and exchange tips to avoid practices.

This happens mostly on TikTok, Gevaers observes. “They correspond to the different values ​​that countries use as limits for inspecting packages. That value is expressed in money but also in weight. If the value of a package is low, practices being analyzed so quickly. Users play on this by, for example, splitting an order into smaller packages.”

So Gevaers claims one European standard, the exact details of which no one knows. “But I don’t see that happening anytime soon in the European Union. “

Despite tricks to avoid checks, there is a chance that customers will still be open. Earlier this month, the data of more than 1.3 million PandaBuy customers ended up on the street after a cyber attack. But according to Bailey, the authorities are not focused on the customers, but on the big traders. “Those are our main targets.”