Fake vintage consoles and games worth almost €50 million seized in Italy
Italian
police
have
seized
fake
vintage
consoles
and
games
worth
€47.5
million.
As
BBC
News
reports,
almost
12,000
consoles
that
stored
more
than
47
million
counterfeit
games
were
seized,
including
titles
such
as
Super
Mario
Bros.,
Street
Fighter,
and
Star
Wars.
The
head
of
economic
crime
unit
for
Turin’s
financial
police
Alessandro
Langella
said
the
fake
retro
consoles
originated
from
China
and
were
being
“imported
to
be
sold
in
specalised
shops
or
online.”
The
devices
were
fitted
with
non-certified
electrical
components
and
were
destroyed
as
they
did
not
meet
European
safety
standards.
Nine
people
have
been
arrested
and
charged
with
trading
counterfeited
goods
and
could
face
up
to
eight
years
behind
bars.
Earlier
this
year,
Square
Enix
revealed
that
nine
people
were
charged
in
connection
with
distributing
counterfeit
merchandise
in
China,
with
products
involving
Final
Fantasy
and
Nier:
Automata
characters.