Woman arrested for selling millions of fake Kona coffee for almost a decade:

[ScoopKona]

Kona woman accused of fraudulently selling coffee - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Kona woman accused of fraudulently selling coffee - Hawaii News | Hawaii Tribune-Herald

www.hawaiitribune-herald.com

They assume the market is too unsophisticated to notice. They're counting on that.

 

[davidvel]

The market is too unsophisticated to notice. Peets, Starbucks, Dunkin, CoffeeGuy, whatever, people just glom on like they do with phones: iphone.

No one knows what they are drinking, they just go with the brand name. None of these people suspected or knew they were not drinking Kona coffee, for over a decade. They either liked it or not. All this KONA coffee is a marketing joke. It is not any better, and if it is no one knows.

 

[CO skier]

All this KONA coffee is a marketing joke. It is not any better, and if it is no one knows.

... or cares. Obviously by the length of the scam.

 

[slip]

Why is this under Vacation Travel Information? Wouldn't the TUG Lounge be more appropriate?

 

[Brett]

After more than several decades workers noticed the coffee bags were actually from other countries

people can't tell the difference --- it's like Olive Oil !!!

 

[SmithOp]

After more than several decades workers noticed the coffee bags were actually from other countries

people can't tell the difference --- it's like Olive Oil !!!

Or cigars and wine.

This woman was begging to get caught, and keeping all that cash laying around, using PayPal...

 

[jacknsara]

Why is this under Vacation Travel Information? Wouldn't the TUG Lounge be more appropriate?

Aloha,
Good question but I do appreciate ScoopKona posting the link.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

Why is this under Vacation Travel Information?

People traveling to the BI might want to know how long the "buy local" schemes can last, even when it seems to be sort of an open secret that it is going on.
state Department of the Attorney General investigated allegations in 2019.
June of 2021, Johnson told state investigators that she bought coffee from the same farm and used the same roaster for 25 years.
The farm had shut down in the 1980s! Hello?
The roaster denied doing business with Johnson and told investigators they had not roasted her coffee for decades! Hello?
2019, 6 yrs ago

I wonder if she sold at costco?

 

[Cornell]

The market is too unsophisticated to notice. Peets, Starbucks, Dunkin, CoffeeGuy, whatever, people just glom on like they do with phones: iphone.

No one knows what they are drinking, they just go with the brand name. None of these people suspected or knew they were not drinking Kona coffee, for over a decade. They either liked it or not. All this KONA coffee is a marketing joke. It is not any better, and if it is no one knows.

I see these same concerns at Farmer's Markets. Is the produce REALLY from a nearby farm? Or was it procured at a grocery store and resold?

 

[WaikikiFirst]

market is too unsophisticated to notice. Peets, Starbucks, Dunkin, CoffeeGuy, whatever, people just glom on like they do with phones: iphone

While I mostly agree with you about iPhones (but that is just our opinion, man),
a) unsophisticated is clearly the wrong word here and shows the lack of intellectual sophistication of the speaker more than saying anything about the end products
b) I may have never read a thought that so clearly cannot differentiate between Opinion and reality.

It is not any better, and if it is no one knows.

and now not knowing the difference between physics and metaphysics.
BUt thanks for reminding me that Woody Allen got kicked out of college for cheating on his Metaphysics test.

 

[rickandcindy23]

After more than several decades workers noticed the coffee bags were actually from other countries

people can't tell the difference --- it's like Olive Oil !

What about Olive Oil? Isn't she Popeye's girlfriend?

 

[am1]

Never drank coffee but apparently Panamanian coffee is the best in the world. Kona has nothing on it. So I hear.