The Interior Ministry says it is tracking hundreds of Facebook accounts selling cosmetics, nutritional supplements and sexual enhancement products in an effort to clamp down on the sale of counterfeit and unauthorised goods.

Mork Theara, of the ministry’s anti-counterfeit committee, said officials are following roughly 500 accounts.

“We are not saying the 500 accounts all sell fake products, but they sell products that are not registered with the Ministry of Health and did not go through labs,” Theara said.

He added that most of the cosmetic products are sold by people who want to imitate high-end products from Korea and Thailand but are not aware of what they are selling.

Individuals caught hawking counterfeit products will be educated and have their accounts shut down, Theara said.

“This is if it’s unintentional,” he said. “But for companies, we won’t excuse them. We will take legal action.”

Law enforcement officials briefly faced backlash in August after arresting social media celebrity Chheng Sreyroth, or “Love Riya”, for selling homemade cosmetics on her Facebook and Bigo Live accounts, with fans accusing officials of being too harsh.

But Theara defended their actions as protecting customers’ safety.

“There was criticism that we arrested her because she did not give us money, but we got complaints from users,” Theara said.