News

eBay fraudster sold £13,000 worth of fake jewellery and make up

By Becky Barnes
September 12, 2012

An eBay seller who sold £13,000 of counterfeit jewellery and make-up online was given a suspended jail sentence and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.

Rachel Sale, 39, of Bevan Gate, Bracknell, pleaded guilty to nine counts of selling fake Pandora charms and counterfeit MAC and Clinique make-up. She was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Monday, August 13.

Sale was snared when Bracknell Forest Council’s trading standards team made a number of test purchases and then searched her home.

The team seized phoney Pandora jewellery and imitations of expensive make-up brands and found she had sold around £13,000 worth of such items on the online auctioning site.

Vicky Lister, trading standards enforcement officer at Bracknell Forest Council, said: “We first became aware of Ms Sale before Christmas, and our suspicions were quickly confirmed when we examined the goods.

“Sale has been prosecuted and this case should serve as a warning to anyone selling counterfeit items.”

Sale was sentenced to 28 weeks in jail, suspended for two years concurrently on all nine counts, and ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid community work.

There will be a further hearing in January 2013 to decide on the amount she will have to pay back in terms of confiscation proceedings.

Cllr Iain McCracken, executive member for culture, corporate services and public protection, said: “If you think you are a victim and have purchased a counterfeit item, contact our trading standards team, who will investigate.”

Call trading standards on (01344) 352 000 or visit www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/tradingstandards.

| Submit Comments