Chinese market regulators have confiscated 534 counterfeit TV sets built from worn-out, discarded parts, including cathode ray tubes extracted from illegally imported clapped-out sets, in Taizhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The TV sets look attractive in nice new casings and bear the names of 18 different international and domestic brands, including Sony, Philips, Hisense and Changhong.

The TV sets were found in a warehouse during a raid by industry and commerce bureau officials, according to a story by Market News.

The warehouse had sold a total of 102 fake TV sets for nearly 90,000 yuan (11,500 U.S. dollars), according to the officials.

The warehouse owner, surnamed Chen, said he purchased the fake TV sets from an underground factory in south China's Guangdong Province at prices as low as 80 yuan (10.40 U.S. dollars) a set.

In these workshops, workers take illegally-imported discarded TV sets to pieces to salvage the tubes, a key component, despite the risk of exposure to toxic or radioactive substances without protective clothing.

Producers also collect TV circuit boards, casings, packing boxes, quality certificates, instruction books and bar codes.

Officials have closed a store selling fake TV sets opened by Chen, but declined to say what penalties he would face.

Officials also warned local residents, especially migrant rural workers, not to buy cheap, fake TV sets, since worn-out cathode ray tubes can be highly radioactive.

Source: Xinhua