A con artist who netted nearly £250,000 by selling fake football shirts on eBay was caught after one buyer spotted a label which read ”Made In Chiana”.
Paul Potter, 48, made nearly a quarter of a millions pounds from the scam – but has now been told to pay back just over £1,000.
Potter sourced bogus Premier League shirts from China then flogged them online – selling one every hour and spending the cash on luxury holidays.
But he scored an own-goal by supplying a Chelsea top that was so sub-standard it bore a label saying: “Made in Chiana”, Plymouth Crown Court heard.
The female recipient was so miffed she called Trading Standards and more than 2,000 similar fakes were found during a raid on Potter’s home in Plymouth, Devon.
Despite the money he made a Proceeds Of Crime hearing was told Potter’s ”realisable” assets were worth just £1,002.75.
Potter was handed a suspended ten-month prison sentence last year for the scam, which earned him £224,657 over two years.
Richard Green, senior Trading Standards officer for Plymouth City Council, said: ”He had a lifestyle well beyond his income,
”It was one of the biggest seizures, if not the biggest seizure, of counterfeit clothing I’ve ever made from a residential property.”
