Criminal Connoisseurs produced low-quality wine passed off as premium spirits to the unsuspecting. 

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC TIMES

Criminal  wine connoisseurs dabbled in fraud by the glass until the authorities caught up with them. The Italian NAS Carabinieri of Florence (Arma dei Carabinieri), supported by Europol, took down a network of wine counterfeiters, selling online fake premium Italian wines.  Law enforcement officers carried out raids in eight Italian provinces (Avellino, Barletta-Andria-Trani, Brescia, Como, Foggia, Pisa, Prato and Rome).  The investigation discovered that low quality wines were refilled in bottles under original labels and then sold as real ones on a big online auction platform. The wines were sold in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States, often ending in the glasses of unaware customers of wine bars and catering services.  The empty authentic bottles were gathered from restaurants and delivered mainly by two individuals working in the food industry. These bottles were then refilled with cheap wines from different origins, purchased online or at hard discount stores. Afterwards, the bottles were sealed with corks and counterfeit capsules of a different or similar colour to the original.

Credit: Europol /  A magnum format (1.5 l) of some of the counterfeit wines typically exceeds € 1000 per bottle.

Packaging films and false masking guarantee seals were finally applied to conceal the lack of distinctive signs on the capsules used for the counterfeit units. Once a contact with a buyer was established via the a big e-commerce platform, the counterfeiters expanded even further their promotional offers, setting prices way below the ones seen usually on the market. A magnum format (1.5 l) of some of the counterfeit wines typically exceeds € 1000 per bottle.

Credit: Europol /  The wines were sold in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States, often ending in the glasses of unaware customers of wine bars and catering services. 

Credit: Europol /  The empty authentic bottles were gathered from restaurants and delivered mainly by two individuals working in the food industry. 

This action is part of operation OPSON IX. Europol’s Intellectual Property Crime Coordinated Coalition (IPC3) coordinated OPSON IX, facilitated the information exchange and provided technical and analytical support to the participating countries. The outcome of this action day will enable Europol to further develop the operation and provide the other countries involved with targeted information.

Europol’s IPC3 is co-funded by the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) to combat intellectual property crime.

11,000 bottles of red wine discovered fake in 2019 Europol Operation 

Credit: Europol /  Bandits reportedly counterfeited at least 11,000 bottles of red wine before getting busted in 2019 police operation in Italy. 

Last year,   Europol supported a similar police action day coordinated by the Italian NAS Carabinieri that dismantled a sophisticated criminal network involved in counterfeiting trademarks and distinctive labels of a famous winery in Florence, Italy. The bandits reportedly counterfeited at least 11,000 bottles of red wine. The bottles, claiming to belong to the high-quality group of IGT wines protected by the Italian government, actually contained a lower quality wine. Nine people were investigated and three arrested; one in prison and two under house arrest.

The Florence and Cremona units of the Italian NAS Carabinieri initiated the investigation in February 2017, after an order was placed at a print shop in Pistoia to reproduce and print 4 500 wine labels. The order was made by a man on behalf of a company, which later turned out to be fake.