POLICE are pleading with people in Puerto Banus and other Marbella hotspots to stop buying fake goods from street vendors.
Marbella’s Policia Local has confiscated over 37,000 fake products so far this year, a notable increase from the total of 26,668 items that were taken in 2024.
This increase reflects how local forces have doubled down on the crime through constant vigilance in tourist zones and shops where illegal vendors are usually spotted.
READ MORE: PICTURED: ‘Bird poo scammer’ targeting expats snapped by vigilant resident in Costa del Sol town
Motivating this crackdown is their calculation that approximately a hundred illegal sellers move between the port, Marbella centre and las Chapas – ‘we all know where they are’, the police said some months ago while speaking about their fight against the street vendors.
There is, however, only so much that the authorities can do and, therefore, they are pleading locals and tourists to help them to ‘slow down this type of crime’.
The Policia Local is encouraging locals to report the sale of false products and pleading them to stop buying the items – each purchase fuels the black market and causes real damage to Marbella’s social and economic fabric by not only harming brands and legitimate buyers, but also by contributing to tax evasion.
‘You can also help us to stop this crime. Do not buy fake goods’, Marbella Policia Local said in a message to citizens.
‘Behind each fake product is fraud, exploitation, and loss of jobs’, investigators added.
READ MORE: The much-anticipated switch-on for Malaga’s famous Christmas lights is coming – all you need to know
The Policia Nacional made their own breakthrough in the fight against illegal street sellers a couple of months ago: discovering wholesale outlets selling counterfeit goods in Guadalhorce industrial park in Malaga, they made 49 arrests and confiscated over 7 kilos of items.
They carried out a total of 31 inspections in neighbouring industrial sites, getting rid of over 24,000 articles, and finding more than €380,000 in cash and other foreign currencies.
Now, in Marbella – where the town hall confiscated 12,330 items, 8,000 of which were fake, between January and May – the aim is to stop counterfeit sellers and create ‘a safe city’.
Click here to read more Marbella News from The Olive Press.
