Jail sentence for woman selling fake masks
A woman has been sentenced to six months in jail, with a one-year reprieve, for selling 330,000 fake medical masks during the COVID-19 outbreak, a court in Yangpu District has announced.
The woman, surnamed Ding, noticed the increasing demand for medical masks due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. She bought 330,000 ordinary masks on January 23 and sold them all in just four days at the entrance of a shopping mall in Huangpu District, claiming they were medical masks, Huangpu’s procuratorate said on Wednesday.
One of the fake medical masks sold by a woman surnamed Ding during the novel coronavirus pandemic
Ding made more than 54,000 yuan (US$7,714) in sales after selling the masks at 0.4 yuan to 1 yuan each.
Several days later, the police were told that someone had been selling fake medical masks and they called on Ding on February 14.
Ding pleaded guilty and has returned over 30,000 yuan. She was also fined 30,000 yuan, the court said.
The Huangpu District's procuratorate inspects the shopping mall where Ding sold fake medical masks.
A notice from the Huangpu procuratorate about daily management and a recall of the fake masks was sent to the shopping mall to prevent any recurrence, the authority said.
It said medical masks should be purchased from drugstores or qualified stores.
