Amazon seizes 3 million fake products amid counterfeit crackdown

Amazon has revealed it has identified, seized, and disposed of more than three million counterfeit products in 2021, and has sued or referred over 600 criminals for investigation in the US, UK, EU, and China, up more than 300% compared to 2020.

In its latest Brand Protection Report, Amazon revealed that last year it invested more than $900m (£716.83m) into protecting customers, brands, selling partners, and stores from counterfeit, fraud, and other forms of abuse.

Amazon also invested more than 12,000 people, including machine learning scientists, software developers, and expert investigators, for the same cause.

Overall, Amazon reportedly stopped more than 2.5 million attempts to create fraudulent selling accounts, preventing “bad actors” from publishing a single product for sale.

This is down from more than six million attempts the prior year, due to “robust” seller and product vetting, along with efforts to hold impersonators accountable that are deterring people from attempting to sell on Amazon.

Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of Selling Partner Services, said: “Our team continues to innovate to stay ahead of bad actors while working in partnership with rights owners, law enforcement, and other experts to ensure customers can continue to shop with confidence.

“While we are proud of the progress we have made, we will not stop until we drive counterfeits to zero in our store.”