Chinese-made imitation golf clubs were found being sold illegally on the Internet at up to eight times the original price, the Seoul Main Customs office said on Monday.

The office said the clubs ― originally priced at 20,000 won ($18) each ― were being sold for 170,000 won in Korea after they were disguised as clubs manufactured in Japan or the United States. Up to 6.1 billion won worth of clubs were sold this way, officials said.

Most of these products were sold by online retailers. One of the culprits, an unidentified 51-year-old, was arrested for trying to sell 70 million won worth of Chinese-made golf clubs in September after disguising them as U.S. or Japanese products.

The man said he sold the clubs after chemically removing the “made in China” stickers to replace them with labels identifying the clubs to be manufactured in Japan or the United States.

“The clubs sold well because the seller lied that the clubs were actually worth 230,000 won each, and that he had put them on sale,” a customs official said.

Along with watches, shoes and bags, golf clubs are among the more popular products being circulated online with fake labels in Korea.

The customs office warned that customers should exercise precaution when golf products come with price tags that appear to be too cheap to be true, even if the label reads they were made in the United States or Japan.

In 2010, the office uncovered 16,085 golf clubs sold for up to a total of 830 million won that were found to be in violation of labels on places of origin.

The numbers seemed to be declining in 2010 and 2011, but the customs office said the violations have recently been rising again.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)