China Shuts Down Two Fake Apple stores

Chinese officials moved to shut down two detailed fake Apple stores in Kumnmig after a blogger’s post exposing the counterfeits went viral.

The ruse was first reported by the BirdAbroad blog, who took pictures of the store and described their contents and the workers inside. In total, Chinese officials uncovered five different stores in the town posing as Apple stores. However, the only official Apple stores in China are in Beijing and Shanghai.

An Apple spokesperson confirmed the store the blogger visited was “unauthorized.”

The stores included many details of a real Apple story, like a winding staircase and the staff – who believed they were real Apple employees – wearing chunky lanyards. Products were laid out on long wooden tables and the walls were covered in realistic-looking Apple posters. The biggest tipoff was that the sign for the store had an Apple logo and said “Apple store” underneath. But real Apple stores just sport the fruit, with no words.

The two stores that were shut down were shuttered for not having a business license. The store the blogger visited was not shut down because it has a license to trade and it was selling real Apple products.

Here is a followup video the blogger took of the inside of the store:

China officials close fake Apple stores in Kunming city [BBC] (Thanks to David!)

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