(Ecns.cn)--Criminals in China are growing more sophisticated at selling inferior wine bottled under more expensive brand labels. Techniques include using blending low-end wines into higher class wines, distributing in recycled original brand bottles, and maintaining constant surveillance at their bottling premises. These are some illegal scenarios fueling the fake wine business disclosed on CCTV's Weekly Quality Report on November 7.
A simultaneous crack-down on fake wine gangs in twelve provinces across China was led by the Ministry of Public Security, with raids undertaken on September 27 and 28. Fraudulent operations included sites in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu and Tianjin. China National Radio also reported that a dozen brands of wines and spirits, including the well-known Maotai, Wuliangye and Jiannanchun labels, were found to be counterfeited. The number of fake wine products with famous labels to be sold totaled to 14,000 bottles so far.
According to procurator, fake-wine production is evolving into a serious underworld "profession". The industrial supply chain formed for counterfeit wine manufacturing has gradually matured, so for example law breakers not only post the low-tech human 'lookout ' at the gate but use anti-tracking measures to sound out the next moves police plan to take against them.
Evolution of a crime
A CCTV correspondent discovered a high number of online ads are actually designed to scout for willing sellers of the bottles good wines come in, so that the labels serve as models for fraudulent packaging and the bottles can be recycled to contain the fake mixtures.
Lawbreakers also secretly collude with hotel personnel seeking to profit from the dark deal. "Some guy connected me about recycling our wine bottles" a hotel waiter named Wang, testifies, "but I was asked to try my best to open the bottle cap from the bottom for fear of damaging anything."
The whole set of packaging, not just the authentic bottle is of great value to wine fraud operations, and consists of the check list, certificate, trademark and bottle caps. An authentic wine bottle will fetch from 15 to 30 yuan from these "recyclers", legal authorities have determined, but the waiter explained that "Whether the packaging is in good condition or not determines the selling price."
Fake-wine makers pay great attention to the anti-fake logo and barcodes that have been put onto the packaging of genuine brands, where some space nearby the seal is always left blank. Counterfeiting the logo on the outer packaging, the bottle body and other details, makes their fake appear reliable. The taste of the contents is the other part of the business. According to the report by CCTV, lawbreakers can easily purchase low-end wine from the market at prices ranging from a dozen to 40 yuan. They then conduct taste tests on various blends until a formulation that approximates the taste of the target wine is achieved. Finally, the mix is scaled up for a mass bottling and capping operation.
Harmful to health
The profit margins in fake wine manufacturing and distribution may be as high as 2000%, according to Ye Guang, who conducts a very public fight against counterfeit wine products and has produced the chart Profit Margin Contrast Among Different Sorts of Fake Wine.
Experts note that cases of imitation wine sales amount to more than just a waste of the drinker's money, because the poorest imitations go so far as to threaten the drinker's health, and in the worst cases, poison them.
According to Wenhui Newspaper, the deaths attributed to fake alcoholic beverage incidents in recent years have involved the crudest of operations. He Rihui, a member of the China Toxicology Commission, claims the worst products contain a large amount of methanol, a major toxin. If one drinks a beverage that is 40% methanol for example, tossing back 5 ml of it at once, symptoms consistent with poisoning may follow, and a 10 ml jolt may lead to blindness, while 30 ml can be fatal.
Low buy-in, high return
China' criminal code provides that a criminal convicted of a single case of counterfeiting may be sentenced to a maximum of seven years. The huge profits entailed in counterfeiting make the cost of the crime seem relatively low; consequently the recurrence rate of the crime remains high.
To curb recidivism, deputy secretary Gao Jianfeng at the Ministry of Public Security has suggested the government enhance legal supervision and create heavier penalties for counterfeiters
However, in addition to new supervision policies, industry cooperation is needed, warns Zhao Ping, an officer from the Ministry of Commerce. She believes legitimate wine enterprises can help their customers buy authentic wine products by making their product distribution channels, franchiser list and other essential information transparent on their websites.
