Procter & Gamble Taiwan (P&G,
"Customers were able to order [the counterfeit] SKII products when they signed up for a Citibank credit card," said Doris Chen (
Noticing something was wrong with the fragrance, a consumer called the customer service number printed on the packaging -- to no avail -- and then turned to P&G, Chen said.
The US health and beauty giant Procter & Gamble -- the whole-saler for SKII cosmetic products in Taiwan -- said the goods were definitely bogus.
"After conducting chemical testing we confirmed the products are counterfeit. The fake products look so good even our employees couldn't distinguish them from the legitimate product," Chen said.
An official at Citibank said the misconduct occurred when two employees of an authorized subcontractor took matters into their own hands. "They obtained the [fake] product and staged the promotion without their superiors' or Citibanks' approval," said Joyce Chen (陳昭如), public affairs manager at Citibank Taiwan.
"After being informed of the incident, we demanded that the subcontractor halt the promotion and punish the two sales agents," Chen said.
Chen told the Taipei Times that if the misconduct were proven to be intentional, Citibank would "reserve the right to terminate business with the subcontractor."
But according to one government official, Citibank still has to take some responsibility for the marketing of illegal products.
"The subcontractors were hired by and worked for Citibank," said Chiu Hui-mei (
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