Counterfeit Windows Ring Busted
Thursday, 7th April 2011
A major counterfeit ring in Singapore (with connections in Malaysia and Australia) was busted by Singapore Police Force with the Microsoft Counterfeit Investigation unit. Thousands of software and tablet PCs with illegally copied Microsoft Windows 7 installed were seized. The raid began at a storage warehouse in Changi and continued at other locations in Pasir Ris, Chinatown and Bukit Batok. According to Microsoft Singapore, the items seized were previously sold to consumers with counterfeit Certificate of Authenticity labels placed on the tablet PCs and software packaging to deceive consumers.
Under the Singapore Copyright Act, a person found guilty of infringing copyright can be fined S$10,000 for each item or face a maximum imprisonment of five years. Criminal raids also took place concurrently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.