Counterfeiters do not take time off. At its core, counterfeiting preys upon our vulnerabilities and takes advantage of the average customer at any cost. This is particularly true right now during the coronavirus pandemic, the most inconvenient and vulnerable moment in generations. In the midst of mass shortages and colossal demands for certain products, especially in the health field, the counterfeit community has seen a golden opportunity. Over the past few months, tens of millions of new counterfeit products have been seized or identified on the web. These include fraudulent face masks, ventilators, disinfectants and testing kits.
America’s banks prevented $9 out of every $10 of attempted deposit account fraud in 2016, according to the 2017 American Bankers Association Deposit Account Fraud Survey Report.
Counterfeit products make up five to seven percent of world trade, and have cost an estimated 2.5 million jobs worldwide, with 750,000 jobs lost in the U.S. alone. It’s an issue that Brad Minnis, Senior Director, Corporate Safety and Security for Juniper Networks, spends much time and effort to mitigate.
The threats posed by transnational criminal networks exploiting digital currencies for money laundering and terrorism financing are high on INTERPOL’s agenda in 2017.
eBay is developing a new authentication program for some of its higher-end items to create a network of professional authenticators it can use to verify that products are legitimate.
More than $460 million in cash and bearer negotiable instruments (BNIs) and some 300 weapons have been seized in a global counter-smuggling operation coordinated by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and INTERPOL.
