I landed in Geneva airport 2 weeks ago. I knew i will be searched at the customs, like everytime.

They found with me one small fake make-up bag from Louis Vuitton, which they confiscated. They took my passport and my "ausländerausweis" and made me sign a paper without giving me any explanation.

I asked few questions and they said, i need to give the consent, that I am ok they destroy my stuff.

Basically this trousse was an old gift from my friend.
At the same i had another 2 real Louis vuitton bag and porte-cle that the guy was examining for half an hour. I shouted at him saying, I paid more than a 1000 CHF for these 2, so you have to see it is real ones and not fake.

Anyway this is not it, today i received a post from the lawyer of Louis Vuitton asking me to pay a fine of 200 CHF, or LV will SUE ME!!!!

I was pissed off, since it is a lot of money for a 5 bucky make up bag!

I am not willing to give up and want to give that lawyer a call, to negotiate with him and tell him that it was a gift and i didnt know,it was fake and I own real stuff from LV!!

Do you think I am able to come up with something with him? Anyone been there?

Please advise me what to do, i am just so annoyed!!

so, you knew it was fake, but you kept using it. and now you are complaining cause you got caught.

not a good loser...

If you read my thread carefully, i said i am annoyed, so I need someone who been there so give me advise, not to annoy me more!!!

don't mess with me, or I'll get my lawyer send you a letter too!

Hahah, I have pain from too much laughing, so Stop it and go to sleep!

I send 2 letters to you

Guess you could try to cut a deal with LV. But the counterfeiting laws, specifically those involving brining in personal goods, have been in place since July 2008. So Customs were in the right. This came about mainly due to the counterfeit watches, but they could not say.. "well, if it were a watch, we would take you down... but it`s just a bag... so ok...".

And you did say you knew it was a fake... Lessons learned...

Just be thankful that they didn`t pursue proscecution...

Good luck !

Pay the fine. LV has the right to do it.
Have a look at these links
http://www.ezv.admin.ch/zollinfo_pri...x.html?lang=en
https://www.ige.ch/en/legal-info/leg...ly-1-2008.html

Thank you cmirsky, but by the way i didnt say it was fake, it was "vei" or whatever his name was said that!!!

Ohhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuuu! i just need to take a deep breath to swallow the whole thing!

That's normal. I have a German friend whose suitcase was searched and the officers found a few fake pairs of Diesel jeans -he didn't know, but it didn't matter. He paid more than 500 EUR.

The U.S. has the same procedure...

Just say you didn't know. Someone you met on holiday really liked you and gave you the bag. Now you know it was a fake you're OK with it being taken off you and destroyed, but not fined. Not your fault.

See what they say next.

I am so sorry for your troubles but it does say when you leave (at least the Basel airport) that all counterfeit goods will be confiscated and destroyed and you could be prosecuted...

The problem you have, even if you really did think it was genuine, is that they'll have heard all the sob stories before. No harm giving it a go, but don't be disappointed if they just ignore your pleas.

I definitely wouldn't play the "but I've got lots of real LV stuff" card. It begs the question why you couldn't spot the 5 Bucky make up bag.

I cut out the labels and brought 2 shirts from Turkey, similar to Tommy Hilfiger. I declared them at Basel airport, along with an expensive leather jacket.

They charged me CHF 35,-- MWSt tax on the jacket and let me keep the shirts "as I was being honest".

They can fine you up to ten grand so I'd pay the 200 and consider it school of life tuition fees.

wow...didn't know they do that..
Never mind taking the stuff and destroying it, but also to inform LV ..

I was lead to believe the fine should be the retail price of the item. A college of a friend found some great quality fakes, emailed a few mates of hers "who wants one?" the eight bags she had cost her CHF40,000, my friend's wife had "ordered" one. One hell of a predicament to be in. So depending on the bag it may not be so bad.

I did not even think about laws like that. I'm not really one for fake designer stuff but thanks for sharing nontheless. Good luck...

While saying that, can they still check/take your fake handbag ,even when bought a year ago,used it and you happen to have it with you on a random flight?

Isn't that what happened to the OP?