China shuts down 829 websites, online stores

BEIJING, CHINA: China has shut down 829 websites and online stores involved in selling counterfeit goods, authorities said Friday.

By the end of May, China had investigated 628 cases of sales of fake products in the crackdown campaign, China's ministry of commerce said.

The cases involved nearly 800 million yuan ($124.3 million), ministry spokesperson Yao Jian told reporters.

A total of 436 suspects were detained in the crackdown, Xinhua quoted him as saying.

The crackdown mainly targeted counterfeit daily consumer products including books, audio goods, clothing, cosmetics, food and drugs.

The country's e-commerce websites, Taobao.com, Eachnet.com and Paipai.com were the major focus of the inspection, Yao said.

As of the end of June, the three websites had closed 3,363 online stores they hosted and gave warnings to more than 65,000 others.