Fake Xiaomi products worth ₹33.3 lakhs seized in Chennai and Bengaluru
Xiaomi on Monday confirmed that counterfeit products under its sub-brand Mi, of an estimated worth of Rs 33.3 lakhs were seized from four suppliers in Chennai and three suppliers in Bangalore. As a part of the brand’s comprehensive proactive anti-counterfeit program, a complaint was filed with the local police station, and raids were conducted in the market in the months of October and November.
Fake Mi India products worth Rs 33.3 lakh found in Bangalore and Chennai, Xiaomi issues warning for consumers
The shops selling counterfeit Mi products were discovered by Xiaomi’s anti-counterfeit team which was created to constantly monitor the market for counterfeits.
After complaints were filed with the local police stations in both cities, raids were conducted on the shops of suppliers and seven people were arrested in the matter. It was found that the suppliers were dealing in counterfeit Mi products for years.
During the raids, police confiscated more than 3,000 products including mobile cases, headphones, power banks, chargers, and earphones with fake Mi branding. The estimated worth of fake products in Chennai was INR 24.9 lakhs and INR 8.4 lakhs in Bengaluru.
As such, with this in mind, it will prudent to make sure that as buyers we take just that extra precaution to ensure we are paying our hard-earned money for an original product from Xiaomi.
But spotting counterfeit products is not as easy as it sounds. However, to help with this, there are a few steps that can be followed.
- Some products carry security codes that can be checked on mi.com to identify the authenticity of the product- eg. Mi Powerbanks, all audio products.
- Packaging and quality of retail boxes are very different. You can visit any Mi Home/ Mi Store to validate the original packaging.
- Check for the original Mi India Logo on the product to know if that is authorised. Original logo of packaging can be seen on Mi.com
- All authorized fitness products such as Mi Band(s) will have Mi Fit app compatibility.
- Unauthorised cables are often flimsy and break easily.
