Designer goods counterfeiters return to New York’s Chinatown

Canal Street residents are fed up with fake news.

Three months after a massive NYPD sting netted up to $2 million in counterfeit designer goods, dealers selling faux Fendi and bootleg Prada are back in full force, locals have complained.

“You just have no shame. They’re just taking over the public sidewalk,” said one visitor to a three-block stretch of Broadway along the Canal, again covered in counterfeit Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Hermes, Chanel and Gucci handbags, as well as belts, hats and jewelry and socks.

On a recent Thursday, two dozen brazen street vendors were busy doing business while two uniformed police officers did nothing – and it was only noon.

“There’s A, B and C grades of this stuff,” a seller told The Post of the quality of the fakes. Of course, he considered his goods to be “Class A”.

There is an unspoken understanding between buyer and seller that the Chanels are a sham. They haggle over the price.

A Dior Fugazi tote bag sold for $45. The real McCoy costs $3,500.

More than 700 people have signed a petition supporting efforts to deploy more police along Canal Street and the surrounding blocks of Church, Mercer, Lispenard and Broadway. “All passers-by deserve to go, live, and do business without harassment or aggressive solicitation, particularly from those selling illegal counterfeit goods and unlicensed/controlled drugs, etc.,” wrote petition organizer Raphael A.

“This is a slap in the face to other businessmen and women who obey the rules, and it has become very dangerous for pedestrians,” Patrick Valentino wrote in the online petition. “I begrudge it to someone who makes a living. I do it when they do it at someone else’s expense.”

Helayne Seidman

Helayne Seidman

Echoing Richard Kurtz: “The crowds selling fake stuff are utterly repugnant and illegal and cause human pollution and make walking Canal Street intimidating and uncomfortable. The police have been useless in dealing with this issue, which has been a factor in our neighborhood for years.”

The “nothing to see” attitude of Canal cops is a far cry from that of three months ago, when New York City police announced the “quality-of-life takedown” dubbed Operation Bag Guys.

“The money raised from the sale of these counterfeit goods is used to encourage other crimes across the city,” NYPD Deputy Chief Benjamin Gurley said at the August 12 press conference. “We will go wherever and whenever we need to go to stop this type of crime and encourage crime throughout our city.”

Wellington Chen, executive director of Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corp., called the comeback of counterfeiting on Canal a “game of cat and mouse,” adding, “It’s deja vu everywhere.”