French hypermart operator Carrefour plans to buy back more than NT$100 million in gift certificates after police seized more than NT$30 million in fake vouchers over the weekend.
Customers returning genuine certificates will receive the cash value of the vouchers plus NT$50 for their troubles.
"We are the biggest victim," Allan Tien (田中玉), a Carrefour spokesman, said yesterday.
Tien said the NT$50 was to compensate loyal customers for the "inconvenience" of not being able to use their certificates while Carrefour worked out the counterfeiting problem.
According to local media reports yesterday, consumers became enraged when they learned they wouldn't be able to make purchases with Carrefour gift certificates. They took their complaints to the Consumer Protection Commission.
Carrefour halted acceptance of NT$500 and NT$1,000 gift certificates on Saturday after an "organized crime group" flooded Kaohsiung and Taoyuan stores with hundreds of bogus NT$1,000 vouchers.
The gift-certificate recall runs from today through Feb. 24. With the move, the French company hopes to stem further losses.
"To prevent more people from taking advantage of Carrefour, we've decide to recall our gift certificates," said Kao Chih-hua (
In recent months, Carrefour, which has 23 stores nationwide, has found a small number of counterfeit vouchers in its cashier's tills.
But bigger action was needed after a busload of senior citizens arrived at the Kaohsiung store armed with fake certificates. According to Tien, the bus passengers bought up cell phones, imported wines and electronics with the bogus vouchers.
Carrefour subsequently turned to Kaohsiung and Taoyuan police for help.
Several suspects who were apprehended told authorities they were paid NT$1,000 each to purchase high-end electronics worth several thousand NT dollars.
On Saturday, investigators in Taoyuan also nabbed several suspects who were found with more than NT$30 million in fake Carrefour gift certificates in their vehicle.
On the same day, another NT$2 million in fake vouchers were dumped in a Kaohsiung-area park.
The large scale of the counterfeiting prompted Carrefour to scrap its entire gift-certificate program.
"We have no estimate of how many fake certificates are in circulation," Kao said. "I believe the number to be quite significant."
According to Tien, Saturday was not the first time shoppers have passed counterfeit gift certificates. "We spotted some gangsters cashing some fake coupons prior to last week," Tien said.
The company reportedly took in nearly NT$1 million in counterfeits through Saturday, he added.
Carrefour began selling gift certificates about four years ago and has enjoyed 10 percent year-on-year sales growth since then.
Last year the company's sales of gift certificates hit NT$600 million. Lunar New Year is peak season for gift certificates, and the hypermart reportedly sold NT$150 million last month alone.
Taiwan, dubbed the kingdom of counterfeiting by the media, suffered from rampant distribution of bogus currency last year.
Taiwan was put on the "Special 301 priority watch list" last year by the Office of the US Trade Representatives for failing to take effective action against commercial piracy.
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