A woman reported an incident to the Khanh Hoa Provincial Feedback System, alleging that a store at 3 Tran Quang Khai Street, Nha Trang ward, sold counterfeit shoes from famous brands such as Nike and Adidas.

According to the complaint, influenced by advertisements from famous bloggers and KOLs (key opinion leaders) in Nha Trang, she trusted the store and purchased two pairs of shoes for a total of 1,300,000 dong to send to her boyfriend in Russia.

During the purchase, store staff asserted that the products were genuine. After the two pairs of shoes were shipped to Russia, an expert examined them and confirmed they were counterfeit.

Shoe products at the store at 3 Tran Quang Khai Street, Nha Trang ward. Photo: Hoang Sao

The woman contacted the store to report the issue, but was informed that they refused to resolve it, citing her lack of a receipt as the reason for not accepting returns or issuing a refund.

Upon receiving the complaint, the Department of Industry and Trade directed Market Management Team 1 to conduct an inspection. They discovered that the business household showed signs of selling goods counterfeiting brands protected in Vietnam.

Authorities subsequently fined the business household 50,000,000 dong for selling counterfeit goods and ordered the destruction of 180 pairs of fake Nike and Adidas shoes as per regulations.

The store accused of selling counterfeit goods at 3 Tran Quang Khai Street. Photo: Cuu Long

A representative for the store admitted that the two pairs of shoes sold to the woman were not genuine Nike or Adidas products. They added that a price of 1,300,000 dong for two pairs would not be possible for authentic items.

Regarding the complaint that staff had previously claimed the products were genuine, the store representative explained that it was a new employee. According to this individual, the store has always informed customers that their products are "grade one, two, or three" and does not sell genuine items.

“For 500,000-600,000 dong a pair, there’s no way they could be genuine. We are trying to find her to apologize and refund the money for the two pairs of shoes, but we haven't been able to contact her yet,” the store representative said.

The store also admitted to previously selling products counterfeiting protected brands, for which it had been fined, and stated its intention to cease operations. However, the store representative denied hiring KOLs to advertise counterfeit products.

“Most bloggers and KOLs are tourists who shop here and film themselves,” the individual stated.

Bui Toan