A Swansea pensioner was making tens of thousands of pounds by importing counterfeit big-brand skincare creams from China and selling them on eBay, a court has heard. Norman Gill was selling the fake Bio-Oil products for half the price of the real thing and when the company which owns the brand found out and told him to stop he simply continued to trade – even recruiting a friend to sell the creams in his name to hide his dodgy dealings.
The defendant made around £50,000 from selling the counterfeit creams online, charging customers half what they would pay for the real thing. The bogus beauty scam is not 73-year-old Gill's first foray into fraudulent activity – he has previous convictions for claiming tens of thousands of pounds in benefits he was not entitled to. Swansea Crown Court heard though the defendant lives in plush house in an nice Mumbles street he is in financial difficulty and is currently trying to sell the property.
Stephen Rees, prosecuting, said in August 2017 the firm Geneva Laboratories became aware that products purporting to be their Bio-Oil creams were being sold on eBay by the defendant Gill. An investigation was launched and a test purchase was made from the defendant's eBay account . The creams were sent for testing in the lab and found to be fake. The firm sent Gill a "cease and desist" letter telling him it was aware of his activity and requiring him to stop. The court heard the defendant replied saying he would stop but in fact continued to import and sell the fake Chinese products for the next eight months, recruiting his gym friend John Burns to sell them for him from his eBay account. The prosecutor said Geneva Laboratories continued its investigation and made a further test purchase this time from Burns' account. Again the items purporting to be Bio-Oil were tested and found to be counterfeit and Burns was written to.
