Vietnam, a global center for counterfeit luxury goods, is trying to clean up its black market.

But the US continues to tighten the screws.

At the end of May, Vietnam launched an investigation to determine whether the failure to eliminate IP violations was “unreasonable” and harmful to American business.

So the Vietnamese authorities tightened their own screws.

On June 10, police in Thanh Hoa province busted a ring that produced and sold more than 10,000 pieces of fake jewelry. The counterfeiters impersonated brands such as Bvlgari, Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co, and generated an estimated $1.14 million in illegal profits for the counterfeiting syndicate.

Market stalls in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi were closed and police raided warehouses, clothing stores and sneaker shops.

But the locals are bitterly divided. And while it looks like it’s going to force some vendors out of business, others are hoping for the best.

Thi Nguyen designs, manufactures and sells her own clothes in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Lat. The way she sees it, the fake industry not only infringes on the IP rights of designers like herself, but “makes the Vietnamese retail market a mess and turns it into a joke.”

She says customers are willing to spend $75 on fake designer clothes that look real, but complain when they pay half as much for a custom one — “even if it’s made with quality fabric and good tailoring.”

“Vietnam has no shortage of highly skilled seamstresses and embroiderers, but many are neglected and don’t earn the income they deserve,” she said. “Very few end up working in factories that produce fake products.”

Now that those fake sellers are being forced to shut down, she is preparing to invest more in her business and raise prices.

“I feel more confident working in a cleaner, more transparent and fair business environment,” she says. “This isn’t really about winners and losers. It’s about restoring justice and putting right and wrong, real and fake back in their rightful place.