Fake Xiaomi products worth Rs 33.3 lakh seized during raids in Bengaluru, Chennai

Bengaluru: Chinese electronics company Xiaomi, a leading smartphone and television brand in the country, has been facing trouble after many customers ended up buying the company’s counterfeit products. Now, raids conducted by local police in Chennai and Bangalore have exposed a nexus involved in counterfeiting Xiaomi products.

Per a release by Xiaomi, raids exposed an abundance of these counterfeit products. The company revealed that products with an estimated value of Rs 33.3 lakhs were seized from four suppliers in Chennai and three suppliers in Bengaluru during the months of October and November.

The raids were conducted after a complaint was filed by the company as part of its “comprehensive proactive anti-counterfeit program”.

The release shared by Xiaomi also said that following the registered complaint, police officers along with the company’s representatives seized counterfeit devices from three prominent shops in Chennai and Bengaluru.

How was the Nexus exposed? 

According to the release, the nexus involved in the counterfeiting of products involved local shop owners and suppliers from Bengaluru and Chennai who were doing this business for a long time.

During this period, the ring has managed to sell a number of these fake products that are not just exclusive to Xiaomi.

An exact breakup has not been shared yet; however, Xiaomi has revealed that over 3000 Xiaomi products including “mobile back cases, headphones, power banks, chargers, and earphones” were seized during the raids.

After the raids concluded, the owners of these establishments have been arrested for allegedly selling fake Mi India products.

How do you spot a counterfeit product?

While spotting these counterfeit products might not be easy there are a few precautions you can take to ensure you’re getting the real deal.

>Some products have security codes attached to them. This can be verified on Mi’s official website mi.com.

>The outer packaging and quality of a fake product and a real product can be starkly different. In order to verify if you have the real thing, you can always visit any Mi Home/ Mi Store to validate the packaging.

>Check for the original Mi India Logo on the product to know if that is authorised. You can also look for the original logo on the packaging on the official Mi website.

>All authorised fitness products such as Mi Band (s) will have Mi Fit app compatibility.