A company in the UK's Bournemouth area has been found guilty of selling counterfeit chargers for Apple devices, and now has to pay.
Chargers (not from CK IT Solutions)
After a raid in October 2018 by the UK's trading standards department, Bournemouth firm CK IT Solutions has now been fined for selling counterfeit Apple chargers. The raid followed a shipment of 220 products to the company being detained at East Midlands Airport over safety concerns.
According to local newspaper the Bournemouth Echo, some 1,446 further items were seized during the raid. The company subsequently admitted to offenses relating to the UK's laws on electrical safety and counterfeit goods.
Reportedly, the company told the court that it had failed to conduct regulatory PAT (portable appliance testing) procedures. It had instead had solely checked that the chargers were functioning, and believed that the parts were genuine.
"The company is a small company working hard and legitimately to have a successful business," concluded Judge Brian Forster, QC. However, he ruled that CK IT Solutions derived a benefit of 100,000 GBP ($138,000) from its activity. The company was ordered to pay that sum, plus further fines and costs, totaling 106,670 GBP ($147,400).
Recently, a teenager in England suffered facial burns after an iPhone charger caught fire. It's not clear whether that was a counterfeit model, but previous reports have claimed that 99% of third-party iPhone chargers are unsafe.
The Bournemouth Echo report was first spotted by iMore.
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