Industry Updates

Amazon Establishes Crime Unit to Combat Counterfeits Online

Published: September 22, 2020

Note: This is part of our ongoing series to update brand owners on e-commerce platforms’ efforts to curb counterfeiting and represents INTA’s collaborative initiatives to fight the proliferation of counterfeit goods online and elsewhere.

Amazon has established a Counterfeit Crimes Unit, a global team composed of former federal prosecutors, investigators, and data analysts, aimed at combatting bad actors who offer counterfeit products in Amazon’s store in violation of the company’s policies.

Introduced in early 2020, the Counterfeit Crimes Unit coordinates with brand owners and analyzes data from Amazon and external partners to more effectively investigate and pursue bad actors. It will also support law enforcement officials around the world in criminal actions against counterfeiters.

Establishment of the Counterfeit Crimes Unit is one further step Amazon has taken to combat counterfeiters. In 2019, Amazon invested more than $500 million to fight fraud and combat counterfeiting, which has helped the company block over six billion bad listings last year alone. Additionally, Amazon blocked more than 2.5 million bad actor accounts before the actors were able to list a product for sale.

The company also announced that, as of September 1, it will list the business names and addresses of third parties that are selling in its U.S. store to help customers make more informed shopping decisions.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest. 

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