[THE INVESTOR]  More than 3 trillion won (US$2.73 billion) worth counterfeit brand-name products, were caught over the past five years, according to the customs agency on Sept. 28.

Records given to the parliamentary finance committee by the Korea Customs Service said the agency nabbed 3,088 smuggling cases involving fake goods, amounting to 3.24 trillion won, with watches replacing handbags as the most popular items,

Fake watches accounted for 987.7 billion won. Handbags came next at 718.4 billion won, followed by Viagra and the like at 435.8 billion won, records showed.

Smuggling of knockoff timepieces more than doubled from 111.6 billion won in 2011 to 255 billion won in 2015, while the popularity of copied handbags dropped from 225.5 billion won to 37.6 billion won.

French brand Louis Vuitton was the most copied brand during the period. Rolex, Chanel, Cartier and Burberry followed in that order.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)