Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced charges against four men who are accused of selling hundreds of thousands of dollars in knock-off fragrances in what is being called the largest counterfeit retail product bust in the state's history.

"Counterfeiting is an organized retail crime and not a victimless one," said Nessel.

Nessel says Walmart and Amazon contacted her office in October 2023 to ask for their help in investigating a seller on their marketplace, after a number of fragrance brands filed complaints.

"It steals from legitimate businesses, deceives customers, undermines brand integrity, and may actually endanger unsuspecting customers and with unregulated products sourced from unverifiable chemical plants," said Nessel.

Officials allege Kyle McIntyre of Port Huron sold more than $1 million worth of counterfeit products as a third-party seller on the website.

Police also seized more than 300 boxes of the fake goods in a search of McIntyre's home in December 2023. 

"All of times, what these counterfeiters will also do is they will use groups that specialize in sort of getting into the marketplace and unlocking those things, and they will provide fake documents," said Michigan Assistant Attorney General Michael Friese.

During the investigation, authorities tracked down McIntyre's wholesale partner, Shuba Barua of Sterling Heights.

Officials later searched Barua's warehouse, where they seized more than 100,000 boxes of the counterfeit fragrances.

"The sheer amount of these illegitimate illicit listings makes it hard to contain the problem," said Saleem Alhabash, Associate Director, Michigan State University Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Center.

Two other suspects — Bilal Ahmed of Warren and Ahasan Khan of Sterling Heights — were caught after officials were able to link them to the crimes.

McIntyre is charged with one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, six counts of being in possession of counterfeit goods and one count of using a computer to commit a crime. 

Ahmed, Khan and Barua are each charged with one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, 13 counts of being in possession of counterfeit goods and one count of using a computer to commit a crime. 

"Law enforcement's need to pat themselves on the back before a shred of evidence has been presented in a courtroom is in bad taste. My client has never been in trouble. He is a decent and good family man," said Wade Fink, an attorney representing Khan. "There are thousands of wrongfully accused criminal defendants every year. That is why criminal defendants are innocent until proven guilty. The desire of law enforcement to say 'job well done' while publicly naming these individuals is not only premature but, in my view, wrong."

While the investigation continues, officials hope this announcement will push consumers to be vigilant and report anything suspicious.

"It's almost like a partnership amongst everybody that makes sense, between marketplace sellers ourselves, making sure they hold people accountable, and also consumers making sure that they protect themselves as well," said Friese.