Fake software COAs seized in Klang

A total of 106 copies of fake Microsoft Windows 7 Professional and Home Premium certificates of authenticity (COAs) worth about RM44,200 were confiscated during a raid on an office in Bandar Botanic, Klang on Christmas eve.

The operation was conducted by the enforcement division of the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry's (MDTCC) Shah Alam branch.

The ministry's Shah Alam chief enforcement officer, Othman Nawang said the operation also resulted in the arrest of a man, in his late 20s, and that further investigation on the sources of the COAs was ongoing.

Preliminary checks indicated that the company was well known in the industry circle as a supplier of high-end counterfeit Microsoft COAs, he said in a statement, Thursday.

He said software pirates had become more creative in disguising their illegal activities.

"When in the past it was enough to install pirated software into computers to be sold to unsuspecting consumers, software pirates today have moved up another notch by printing or providing fake COAs," he said.

Othman said this gave the impression that a pirated software installed was licensed and legitimate when it was the complete opposite.