Xiaomi India today announced that it seized 'counterfeit products' worth Rs 33.3 lakhs from four suppliers in Chennai and three suppliers in Bengaluru. Xiaomi has been the leader of the Indian smartphone market for more than three years now. Since it is the market leader, consumers go to offline stores to purchase its products. However, in some places, sellers make customers believe that counterfeit products are the original products from Xiaomi with similar packaging. Xiaomi has an anti-counterfeit programme as part of which it filed complaints with the local police stations in Chennai and Bengaluru to conduct raids in the markets in October and November.
Counterfeit Xiaomi Devices from 3 Prominent Shops Seized
Following the registered complaint, the police officers along with Xiaomi's representatives seized more than 3000 counterfeit devices from three prominent shops in the area. The seized products consist of mobile back cases, headphones, power banks, chargers and earphones. The police officers also arrested the shop owners from both the cities for allegedly selling fake Mi India products worth Rs 24,9 lakhs and Rs 8.4 lakhs respectively.
Furthermore, it was found that these suppliers have been managing this business for a long time and have sold multiple unauthorised products in the market.
How to Identify Counterfeit Products of Xiaomi
Counterfeited products are not manufactured by Xiaomi, hence the quality will be missing from these products. Furthermore, these products degrade customer experience alongside carrying a big threat to consumer health and safety. Counterfeit products are very famous in India and such incidents have increased in the country over the previous years. To tackle this situation, Xiaomi India has created a dedicated team for constantly monitoring the market and taking quick action against such unauthorised sellers.
Here's how you can identify yourself a genuine Xiaomi product:
- Some products carry security codes which can be checked on Xiaomi's official website Mi.com for authenticity. Products like Mi Power Banks and all the company's audio products carry security codes on the packaging.
- Furthermore, the packaging and quality of the retail boxes are very different. Xiaomi says the users can visit any Mi Home/Mi Store to validate the original packaging.
- Also, customers can check for the original Mi India logo on the product to know whether it is authorized or not. The original logo of packaging can be seen on mi.com.
- All authorized fitness products such as Mi Bands will have Mi Fit app compatibility. The counterfeit products will not be able to pair with the Mi Fit app.
- Unauthorised cables are often flimsy and break easily.
