Two suspended jail sentences for Kingsbury trader who sold dangerous goods on Amazon and Ebay

UK Gadget Trading Limited sold dangerous electrical accessories to unsuspecting customers (Image: Archant)

The owner of an online retailer which sold fake and dangerous phone chargers and electrical accessories has been handed down two suspended jail sentences.

Harrow Crown Court heard Zifei Tian, 26, of Kingsbury Road, Kingsbury, sold the dodgy goods on Amazon and Ebay through UK Gadget Trading Limited where she was the director.

When officers from Brent and Harrow Trading Standards Service (BHTSS) raided the company’s office in Alperton Lane, Wembley, they seized 2,157 products such as headphones, cables, mobile telephones, phone chargers and cases featuring trade marks such as Monster Dr Dre, Nokia, HTC, Louis Vuitton and Cartier.

Had the items been genuine the haul would have been worth in the region of £36,000.

Test carried out on samples of the items concluded that they were unsafe as they did not offer sufficient protection against an electric shock, the plugs had defective pins and their overall construction meant that the items could pose a fire hazard.

Tian, who is studying in the UK, was snared after BHTSS received a tip-off from HM Revenue and Customs that they had detained shipments of counterfeit goods imported from China to the company.

Tian claimed that she did not know she was a director of the company, a position she obtained the January prior the officer’s visit in May 2012 before resigning in July 2012.

As a director, she became legally liable for the company’s activities, although she said the business was operated by her partner who had subsequently returned to China.

BHTSS corroborated she did have an accomplice but legal proceedings were withdrawn against this person as officers were unable to trace them.

Tian admitted to two offences under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and three offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994

Last week she was sentenced to a six and three month suspended custodial sentence (to run concurrently) and was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work and pay £800 costs to Brent & Harrow Trading Standards Service for her part in the running of UK Gadget Trading Limited.

Bill Billon, from BHTSS, said: “The sale of counterfeit goods not only causes a loss to brand owners and duped consumers alike, but also this case was aggravated by serious safety concerns as amongst the fake items were mobile phone electrical plug in chargers made from cheap inferior components that could result in serious injury to its users.”