Cheating Even with Matches: Two Manufacturers Made Millions by Underfilling Matchboxes

A new incident involving consumer deception has occurred in Uzbekistan. This time, the focus is on matches, seemingly the simplest and most accessible product. However, even here, there are those who decided to profit from people’s trust. The Committee for the Development of Competition and Consumer Protection conducted a control purchase, and the results were shocking. Two domestic manufacturers – Up Match and Atlas-Invest – systematically underfilled matchboxes, making millions of sums in the process.

Studies showed that matches under the Jeep brand, produced by Up Match, and matches under the Gugurt brand, produced by Atlas-Invest, did not meet standards. Specifically, the number of matches in the boxes was 11-17 fewer than the norm.

From April 22 to 29, 2024, Up Match released 1,500,096 boxes of matches worth 150,000,000 sums that did not meet standard requirements. As a result of selling underfilled matchboxes, 44,700,000 sums were illegally obtained from consumers.

A similar situation occurred with Atlas-Invest, which in February-March 2024 released 605 boxes of matches worth 66,500,000 sums, also not meeting standard requirements. As a result of selling underfilled matchboxes, 20,493,000 sums were illegally obtained from consumers.

The Committee issued mandatory instructions to withdraw the substandard products from sale and to return the excess amounts collected to consumers. It is interesting to see how they will return this money.

This case once again underscores the need for strict quality control of products. Consumers should be confident that they are getting products that meet all standards for their money.

The text has been translated by AI. For more accurate information, please refer to the Russian version of the article.

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