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Hong Kong’s Hang Heung bakery falls victim to mooncake counterfeiters ahead of Mid-Autumn Festival as shop marks 100th anniversary

  • Second time the Hang Heung Cake Shop, founded in 1920, is targeted by bootleggers within three years
  • Customs seizes hundreds of boxes holding counterfeit mooncakes in Yuen Long, arrests four people

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Counterfeit mooncakes seized during a previous customs operation in Yuen Long. Photo: SCMP

Hong Kong’s century-old Hang Heung bakery has fallen victim to mooncake counterfeiters, customs has revealed after seizing 340 boxes of the bogus treats bearing the shop’s forged trademark, along with 200 fake redemption vouchers.

The suspected ringleader of the enterprise accused of making the counterfeits in mainland China was detained during a raid of a Yuen Long warehouse on Friday, senior superintendent Tse Kwok-keung, of the Customs and Excise Department’s Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau, said on Monday.

The arrest of the 77-year-old man came hours after a customs swoop on a restaurant in the same district that was selling mooncake knock-off brands and vouchers. The restaurant’s director and two staff members were taken into custody.

Tse said it was the second time in three years the cake shop – which has its flagship store in Yuen Long and marks its 100th anniversary this year – was the victim of trademark forgery involving its mooncakes, which are the quintessential delicacy of the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival.

The fake products were distinguishable from the genuine ones because the gang used carton boxes rather than metal tins as packaging, he added.

Explaining why the syndicate used a different package design, Tse said he believed the counterfeiters were trying to market the fakes as a “Hong Kong brand but manufactured in mainland China”.

Customs revealed details of the mooncake operation on Monday. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Customs revealed details of the mooncake operation on Monday. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
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