Newsletter
Legal Issues in the Internet Age: One-Page Website Advertising Fraud
I. Introduction
With the popularity of electronic and online marketing, industry players have put in all kinds of efforts to capture the attention of consumers through online marketing. Among them, the most discussed marketing method is the one-page website. One-page advertisements are characterized by their simple design of web pages, usually only one page, and consumers can pay and check out after browsing to the bottom of the webpage. One page websites are often combined with social media advertisements. Using social media algorithms, one-page advertisements of specific products are released to consumer groups who like those types of products. Consumers can click on the advertisements to enter the one-page website to purchase the products. Because the one-page interface and payment method are both simple, it is easier to close orders. As a result, one-page advertisements have become the favorite sales secret for industry players and e-commerce sellers.
II. One-Page Website Advertising Fraud Methods
Scammers and counterfeiters also utilize the one-page website advertisement tactics. Whether it is a well-known sports brand, a hard-to-get queuing meal, a festive gift box from a famous old store, or a variety of boutique products strongly recommended by star artists, etc., all suffer from scammers or counterfeiters who steal and use images of the genuine products on the scammer's one-page websites.
Through convenient one-page websites, consumers can quickly browse through the beautiful product pictures and place orders. After receiving the packages, they find that the products are of poor quality with rough texture or that the products are obviously counterfeit at a glance.
In addition, after the one-page website order is successful, the email confirmation for the order is usually not sent nor is the webpage attached to the SMS of the order confirmation. As such, when the consumer wants to return the goods, there is no way to find the link to the original webpage; even if you can find the webpage for the original order, there is often no valid contact information attached. If you successfully contact the customer service channel to enquire about the return, it may remain unread or directly blocked. If consumers try to contact the sender through the delivery information on the package, most of them will only lead to the Taiwan forwarding companies or the freight companies. But most of the forwarding companies will claim that the relevant goods are shipped from abroad, and the forwarding companies are only the mediators that assist in the delivery.
III. Judicial Practices and Reflections
Scammers on one-page websites use photos of branded products for online marketing, but in fact sell counterfeit products. They use structured criminal modus operandi in the layered structure of "one-page websites with foreign IPs", "Taiwan forwarding companies and freight companies", "overseas logistics companies", and "foreign sourced goods".
In criminal justice cases such as criminal fraud or infringement of trademark rights or copyrights derived from one-page website advertising fraud, due to the suspect's identity issues, in practice only the representative of the package sending company of the one-page website advertising fraud is listed as the Defendant. But the sender company of the package is usually only a Taiwanese forwarding company, so the prosecutors of the District Prosecutors Offices will often render a non-indictment based on the following grounds: the one-page website uses overseas IP and that the forwarding companies claim that they were only entrusted to deliver the goods without knowing the package's contents nor are they the operators of the one-page websites. Therefore, it is difficult to believe that the forwarding companies are guilty of selling counterfeit trademark goods through the Internet and therefore not prosecuted on such grounds. That is to say, in the face of this type of fraudulent tactics, the prosecutors of the District Prosecutors Offices have made several decisions of non-indictment on the grounds that the source of the goods is located overseas or that no actual seller can be found.
However, many consumers and brand owners (i.e. trademark owners and copyright owners) have resorted to legal actions against such emerging criminal methods in the Internet age. It is necessary to reflect on whether the current judicial practices can really combat crimes.
Returning to this type of structured crime approach, the responsibilities of the forwarding companies under this structure should not be flatly ignored. As the sender, the forwarding companies have the responsibility to know the goods being sent and it is the basic legal obligation of the sender to honestly declare the imported goods. Moreover, ''if'' specific forwarding companies have been listed as defendants in many cases of violation of the Trademark Act, and ''if'' many victimized consumers have left negative comments and complaints on the fan pages of the forwarders themselves. Yet, these forwarding companies continue to work with overseas logistics providers and to deliver counterfeit products to other unsuspecting consumers without confirming the actual content of the goods entrusted by the overseas logistics operator to transport or declare the goods. Despite their excuse that they did not know the actual content of the goods, this behavior obviously violates the rules of experience and reasoning, and is not in line with normal social conditions. The forwarding companies in certain cases may obviously be one of the accomplices who cover up the crime of selling counterfeit goods. Otherwise, it is hard to imagine that any decent business company would act so blatantly and contrary to appropriate behavior. Also, as a legal forwarding companies, they should assume the sideline safety of the first line and legal and social responsibilities.
Regarding the one-page website advertising fraud cases, the prosecutors of the District Prosecutors Offices should more actively investigate things such as the financial relationship between the Taiwanese forwarding companies and their relationship with the overseas logistics companies, and the whereabouts of the products that are returned by customers, in order to protect the rights and interests of consumers and brand owners and to confirm whether the forwarding companies really do not know the infringement.
On the other hand, the scammers of the one-page website may even claim that it is the official website of the brand and publish a fake official non-infringement guarantee on the one-page website. If the brand owner does not take the relevant actions, consumers may also project their feelings of being deceived onto the brand owners. Therefore, when a brand owner is confronted by an unscrupulous businessperson who sells counterfeit products using these one-page websites, the owner should take both judicial and non-judicial means to protect its impression in the minds of the consumers and the minds of consumers and the brand value that the brand owner has painstakingly managed.
IV. Conclusion
To summarize, one-page website advertising scammers use structured criminal methods to sell counterfeit goods, commit crimes such as criminal fraud and trademark or copyright infringement, and may endanger public food safety and violate relevant laws, which deserves attention from all walks of life. Although the current judicial practices are mostly based on the fact that the sender of the package, i.e., the forwarding companies, do not know the contents of the package, such that they are not indicted. But all walks of life should reflect on how to seriously face such structured group crimes in the Internet age to protect consumers and brand owners.