By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Despite a massive crackdown at borders, there is a surge in small-scale smugglings by travelers or assisted by the Internet, with the Rolex watch being found to be the most popular fake item here, the Korea Customs Service said
The customs office said Tuesday that it had intercepted 145 billion won's worth of fake luxury goods in 320 cases during a 100-day operation that ended July 24. It allotted 140 officials in 57 teams to implement the crackdown.
The most popular item for the counterfeiters was the Rolex watch. Confiscated fake Rolex watches were valued at 26.6 billion won. Other popular brands, which have been compromised by counterfeiters included Louis Vuitton, worth 12.8 billion won, Adidas and Armani, each worth over 9 billion won, and Cartiers at 6.7 billion won.
Watches, clothes and bags are the items most likely to be counterfeited.
Though the total sum of fake brand goods decreased by 64 percent from a year ago, the war against the sham goods is still seen as uphill.
``Though massive, organizational counterfeiting and smuggling is on the decrease thanks to the intensive crackdown at customs from last year, small-sum offenses and more intelligent infringement by travelers or through the Internet are surging,'' a customs office spokesman said.
Fake goods, most of which came from China in the past, are now coming from a variety of places around the world, and are diversifying to include not only clothes and bags but also Viagra, lamps and even MP3 players.
According to a survey by the customs service, three out of ten Koreans have bought fake goods, while being aware that they are not genuine. The ratio is at 40 percent for those in their 20s, while 44 percent of 50-somethings said they had been duped into buying fake goods.