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Too Good To Be True: Detecting Counterfeit Networks

The counterfeit industry was worth over $5 billion in 2016, and this figure is only growing. This harmful economy not only harms the businesses of brands with designs stolen and revenue interrupted, but it also can jeopardize consumers who may inadvertently purchase unsafe products. These counterfeit networks promote their operation’s fake and illegal goods by exploiting:

  • Social media;
  • Instant messaging;
  • Website building;
  • Payment services;
  • E-commerce platforms.

In this case study ActiveFence shows how brands and platforms can secure themselves from intellectual property right infringements using a combination of cross-platform detection, signifier detection, and network analysis to identify whole systems of abuse.

Portrait of Gideon Freud, author on the ActiveFence blog
Gideon Freud

Gideon is a Senior Intelligence Writer at ActiveFence. He graduated from Oxford University in 2012, where he studied social and cultural anthropology with a special focus on the growth of political extremism in Europe. He joined ActiveFence in January 2021, and is interested in researching the development of national laws focused on regulating online activities.