A mother who made nearly £500,000 selling fake designer clothes through a Facebook ‘shopping channel’ has been jailed. Barbara Murphy, 49, sold knock-off items bearing luxury brands including Moncler, Armani and Gucci, often for around half their usual retail price.
The mum-of-two ran the operation from her home in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, between 2021 and 2025, using a Facebook account called ‘Barbie Murphy’. Her products included fake Louis Vuitton and Cartier jewellery, Jo Malone perfume sets, Nike trainers and Premier League football shorts.
Court hears of £1.5m potential value
Preston Crown Court heard that if the goods had been genuine, they could have been worth around £1.5 million. Murphy was sentenced to four years and four months in prison on October 8 after pleading guilty to fraudulent trading.
Recorder John Richard Jones KC said she had knowingly sold counterfeit items without making their status clear to customers. ‘You knew the items you were selling were counterfeit, but you did not make that known,’ he said.
The judge added that the products had been ‘professionally represented’ and that Murphy had effectively operated like a shopping channel such as QVC. He said the brands whose trademarks had been copied were also victims of her offending.
Investigation and raid
Trading Standards first became aware of Murphy’s Facebook page in December 2021, when its suspiciously low prices raised concerns. In March 2022, she was warned about selling counterfeit goods after police stopped her in a vehicle containing fake items.
But the court heard her Facebook operation continued largely unchanged the following year. Murphy later began livestreaming sales, with customers messaging her in real time to place orders. Between May 2023 and February 2024, a Trading Standards officer bought several items from the page as part of an investigation.
Police and Trading Standards officers raided Murphy’s home in February 2024, uncovering rooms packed with boxes of clothing and footwear. A total of 1,134 items worth around £45,000 were seized, including 397 pairs of Nike trainers and 179 pairs of Ugg boots. Representatives of the genuine brands confirmed that a number of the products were counterfeit.
Continued trading and sentencing
Murphy later told her 12,000 Facebook followers she was closing the page permanently because it had become ‘too risky’. She said she planned to move the business to WhatsApp and Telegram. Although her company, Barbies Boutique Ltd, was dissolved in June 2024, the court heard she continued trading until June 2025.
Prosecutors said Murphy had benefited by £492,379.61, with more than 11,000 transactions believed to have taken place. Her barrister, Alastair Reid, said Murphy had previously run a legitimate children’s clothing business online and from a market stall, but was forced to close it during the Covid pandemic. He said she then became aware of opportunities to sell counterfeit goods supplied by traders in Manchester’s Cheetham Hill area.
The court heard that in some cases Murphy would keep £10 from a £45 trainer sale and return the remaining £35 to the supplier. Murphy, who has a previous conviction for dishonesty, was described by her barrister as knowing her actions were wrong. The court heard she is now receiving state benefits and living in council accommodation.
As well as her prison sentence, Murphy was handed a confiscation order and ordered to pay a victim surcharge. The counterfeit goods seized during the investigation are to be destroyed.
