China Shuts Down Fake Apple Stores

China’s government shut down two knock-off Apple stores in Kunming over the weekend. The stores were being passed off as if they were actual Apple Stores, complete with Apple logos, Apple products, and blue-shirt employees.

So far, five fake Apple Stores have been located in the region, according to the BBC. The two stores that have been closed were shut down because the owners didn’t have business licenses.

The stores sport Apple logos, are designed to look very similar to the company’s legit stores, and the staff working at the locations even thought they were official Apple employees.

Fake Apple StoreEmployees with customers in a bogus Apple Store

Image courtesy of BirdAbroad

Word of the fake Apple stores surfaced over the weekend through the BirdAbroad blog. “This was a total Apple store ripoff. A beautiful ripoff — a brilliant one — the best ripoff store we had ever seen,” the blog said.

The stores were selling what appeared to be actual Apple products instead of counterfeit merchandise. Exactly where the inventory came from, however.

There isn’t any word yet on whether China plans to shut down any of the other knock-off Apple Stores that have been popping up in the country. Apple hasn’t commented on the stores, either.