Fake designer bag seller is fined £13,000

Hundreds of lookalike designer bags were found in her home

A woman will have to pay £12,958 and carry out 100 hours of unpaid work after being found with hundreds of fake designer handbags which she planned to sell.

Kesini Krueanarong, 46, from Salisbury, pleaded guilty to 15 counts of being in possession of counterfeit designer handbags in the course of a business.

A trading standards raid found 344 bags in her home made to look like brands such as Chanel, Hermes and Louis Vuitton.

Krueanarong was also given a 12-month suspended sentence when she appeared at Salisbury Crown Court.

Facebook complaints

When there were first complaints against her, between December 2020 and February 2021, Wiltshire Trading Standards gave Krueanarong advice rather than taking action as she claimed she had sold her own personal items.

However, there was another complaint in August 2021 from someone who had bought 70 fake handbags from Krueanarong through a Facebook page.

After that, UK Border Force sent her warning letters when they intercepted packages addressed to her from Thailand - which had more counterfeits in them.

When trading standards found out she was still selling the bags on Facebook, officers raided her home in June 2022.

It was during this raid they found more than 300 bags including fake versions of brands such as Prada, Dior, Burberry, Givenchy and Longchamp.

Councillor Dominic Muns, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Environment, said: "We hope that this sentence will serve as a warning and a deterrent.

"We take our commitment to protect residents from harm and our consumer protection role seriously and will never hesitate to prosecute in circumstances like this."