Chanel Korea has come under fire for allegedly selling a used handbag to a customer.

South Korean media outlet News One has reported a customer paid 7 million won (US$6280) for a Chanel 2.55 flap bag at a department store in April. She claims she later found a bankbook and credit card belonging to someone else inside the bag, both items issued a month earlier.

“I asked Chanel if anyone had purchased and refunded the bag, but the company said the product’s serial number showed that it had no purchase history,” the bag’s owner told local media.

Chanel Korea released a statement saying it had no idea how the items came to be inside the bag, but it ruled out the possibility an employee had borrowed and used it before its sale. It said it had offered to replace the bag with a new one in July.

Several South Koreans went online to express their dismay about the incident, one commenting on a news story saying: “Korean customers should take collective action such as a boycott to make sure that foreign companies such as Chanel and BMW do not look down on Korean customers and to teach them a lesson”.

An unidentified “industry insider” told local news media such an event was “very rare” and “close to impossible”.

“If that product had been refunded, it is possible to find someone’s belongings from the bag.” But the source said if the bag had really never been sold before, it was hard to explain how the items got inside.