Tonight investigators say they've uncovered a 40 million dollar counterfeit good scheme in New York.

Police say they arrested 31-year-old Lindsay Castelli, owner of Lenny's Boutique on Long Island, after she surrendered to authorities last week.

She's accused of selling fake designer Goods, she claimed we're real. Police alleging Castelli used the heat presses to attach the fake designer labels to cheap clothing selling them for thousands.

People spent a lot of time and money to develop brands and labels, and they should get what's due to them, for someone else to just knock it off⁽¹⁾ is not right.

Castelli faces a charge of second-degree trademark counterfeiting, this after a police raid on October 4th where they say they uncovered 22 printing press machines.

And various counterfeit items, branded with Gucci, Chanel, Prada, Dior and Louis Vuitton, police describing the operation in the store's basement.

Simple $10 sweatshirt, you put the Chanel brand on it, it sells for five thousand three hundred dollars.

40 million dollars worth of goods is pretty significant about of revenue, illicit Revenue, look, it's not a victimless crime. It devalues the brand, and it hurts the consumers.

And when I say that, these folks when they produce these Goods, they don't care about quality, they only care about stealing your money.

Detectives who conducted an 18-month investigation say the items were being shipped all over the United States, purchased through the store and its website.

You can't put brand labels on clothing, and sell them to unsuspecting customers who think they're buying the real thing. - The store now closed and customers now frustrated they overpaid.

It's very disappointing being a local shopper to find out that they're selling counterfeit. - She was after money, she didn't care who she heard in the process.

Castelli appears in several pictures on her stores now defunct website www.Lenny.shop, modeling some close police say she allegedly duped customers into buying.

One caption reading "A girl should be two things, classy and fabulous." - If your man complains that you're expensive and remind him that "You always get what you pay for!"

Efforts to reach Castelli in the store were unsuccessful, and we have no information regarding her lawyer. NBC New York even stopping by her home, but no one was available for comment.

All right Kristen Dahlgren joins us now, Kristen, so do you have any tips for our viewers that are going to be watching this? How do you avoid buying fake items that sometimes look just like the real thing?

All right, Tom, and it goes back to the old saying, buyer beware especially when you're buying things online, and you really can't get your hands on it, and check them out.

And so you do have to do your research, also go directly to the manufacturer, you know, they're going to be selling the real thing or look for a store that can guarantee that they are a reseller.

And you know, do your homework, a lot of big brands do have places on their website, you can go to see what makes them distinct, they will help you in spotting fakes, and so really do your homework before you're buying anything with these big price tags.

And Kristen, how does this work if you did buy something from that store? will you get reimbursed?

Right, so that's a good question, and you know if you used a credit card to buy it, you can go to the credit card, and they might be able to help you recoup your money.

The justice system will also be working to those ends, but think about it, if it's been going on for a while, there may be people who don't even have the merchandise anymore, or don't have their receipt anymore.

So it could be harder to track them down, and for those people to get refunds, but this is all working its way through the justice system now she's expected back in court on November 2nd.