Investigators of the Guardia di Finanza in Turin have dismantled an illegal multi-million enterprise, which allegedly produced and traded automotive counterfeits. The Italian officials identified two large manufacturing facilities during raids and confiscated over 40,000 counterfeits ready for shipping, which carried trademarks of well-known car manufacturers.
The investigators tracked down the fraudsters, shortly after an illegal factory for counterfeit car parts had already been dismantled in an earlier raid in northern Italy (we reported). The current investigations led the authorities to two production sites in Turin and the nearby Carmagnola, in the northern Italian region of Piedmont. In Carmagnola, the officials discovered modern production equipment in a building in a remote region, which could be used to produce thousands of counterfeits a day. The high-quality equipment was used to manufacture counterfeit auto parts that were supposed to be virtually indistinguishable from the original products. According to authorities, the fakes carried well-known brands such as Porsche, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Lancia.
Two entrepreneurs from Piedmont are suspected to be behind the illegal operation, supplying an extensive network of customers around the world. According to the authorities, they sold the fake car parts and other car accessories in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and also overseas, mainly in Chile and the United States. The customers are said to have been unaware of the fraud and, in some cases, had been buying from the now stopped fraudsters for years. The criminal duo, which is now facing charges of counterfeiting and fraud, is said to have generated several million euros.
