The Nuofeili Case: A 320-Yuan 'Australian' Import Made in Guangzhou

In February, a consumer in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, paid 320 yuan for a supplement called Nuofeili 'ovary-care' capsules, marketed as an authentic Australian import that could regulate menstruation, replenish blood and protect ovarian health. The product came in all-English packaging with an overseas address, customs declarations and traceability information. In July, police told her the truth: the 'Australian' supplement was made by a contract factory in Guangzhou.

Police in Ningbo's Yinzhou district said the case, announced in late July, involved false advertising across multiple e-commerce platforms. Between May 2025 and March 2026, two operators, identified only by the surnames Li and Wang, sold the products through several 'overseas stores' on Tmall, JD.com, Xiaohongshu and Douyin, with total sales of 4.35 million yuan and illegal profit of more than 2.11 million yuan. The pair have been placed under criminal coercive measures on suspicion of the crime of false advertising, and the case has been transferred to prosecutors for review and prosecution.

The investigation found the 'imported' identity was largely a paperwork illusion. The pair spent about 10,000 yuan to register a shell company in Australia with no actual operations, and attached the Nuofeili trademark to it. The Australian address printed on the packaging actually led to a bakery, and the claimed production address was an unrelated building. A second shell company in Hong Kong — registered only to a mailbox, with no office or staff — was used to open stores on Tmall Global and JD Worldwide. Products were made by a subcontractor in Guangzhou, shipped to Hong Kong and then re-imported, generating genuine customs documents for what was ordinary food with no Chinese health-food certification.

The safety record is a particular concern. The formula was devised by an in-house employee with a food-science background, and the suspects admitted that several main ingredients are not permitted as food ingredients in China — including ergothioneine, which has not been approved as a new food ingredient in the country. Police said no human trials or safety tests were ever conducted.

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What the 320-Yuan Price Really Paid For

What the 320-Yuan Price Was Actually Paying For

The gap between price and cost explains the scam's economics. Police cost accounting put production and related costs at about 1.1 million yuan for roughly 36,000 boxes — 30 to 40 yuan per box — while consumers paid 320 yuan. Of the 4.35 million yuan in revenue, more than 2.2 million went to promotion and influencer collaborations, with a further 900,000-plus yuan spent on broader marketing. In other words, the 'Australian premium' consumers paid for was mostly an advertising bill, not product quality or imported ingredients.

How the 'Import' Was Manufactured

The case shows why official-looking documents are not proof of authenticity. By registering a cheap overseas shell company, routing goods through Hong Kong and obtaining genuine customs records, the operators created a paper trail that looked verified — even though the Australian 'distributor' address was a bakery and the 'factory' an unrelated building. The Hong Kong entity existed only to pass the onboarding checks of cross-border platforms such as Tmall Global and JD Worldwide. Every layer of the fraud was designed to survive a document check.

Platforms, Influencers and the Unapproved-Ingredients Gap

The case began with leads handed down by the Ministry of Public Security and ended with criminal referral, signaling sustained enforcement attention on 'overseas store' marketing in Chinese e-commerce. It also exposes a regulatory gap: the product was sold as ordinary food, which let it bypass China's 'blue hat' health-food approval that would have triggered ingredient review — several advertised ingredients are not permitted as food materials in China. Bloggers who promoted the brand under paid agreements now face questions about their own liability for advertising claims, a risk that is drawing growing scrutiny in China's influencer marketing industry. In the near term, platforms hosting cross-border stores are likely to tighten document verification, and similar export-and-reimport schemes face a higher chance of detection.

Checking an 'Imported' Supplement Before You Hand Over Money

For shoppers considering imported or 'functional' supplements, the Nuofeili case offers a practical checklist. Every warning sign in this case was checkable before purchase.

  • If a product makes health or function claims, look for the Chinese 'blue hat' health-food approval mark and number. This product had none because it was registered as ordinary food — a sign its claims were never reviewed by regulators.
  • Do not treat customs documents as proof of origin. Here, the documents were genuine but manufactured by routing goods through Hong Kong; ask which specific overseas factory produced the item and check whether that factory is actually registered.
  • Map-check the claimed overseas address. The Australian address on Nuofeili packaging led to a bakery, and the factory address to an unrelated building — a five-minute check that would have exposed the fiction.
  • Treat certificates with suspicion unless there is a verifiable certificate number. The operators bought fake certificates of origin and fabricated 'organic' claims on their store pages.
  • Keep order records, promotional screenshots and chat logs, and report suspected fraud to the platform, the 12315 market regulator hotline or police — the route that triggered this investigation.