DOJ Seized More Than $896,000 in Proceeds from site Counterfeiting

[Eric Lyon]

This actually happened in early April but I found it such an interesting read I wanted to share it.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice has seized more than $896,000 in proceeds from the distribution of counterfeit sports apparel and jerseys as the result of an investigation into the sale of counterfeit goods on commercial websites, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Ronald C. Machen Jr., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; and John Morton, Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The investigation also resulted in the seizure of seven domain names engaged in the sale of counterfeit goods. The funds were seized from interbank accounts and three PayPal accounts. The seizure warrants were unsealed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia on April 5, 2012.

The investigation is a product of Operation In Our Sites, a law enforcement initiative targeting online commercial intellectual property crime announced by ICE’s Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in June 2010. Operation In Our Sites targeted online retailers of a diverse array of counterfeit goods, including sports equipment, shoes, handbags, athletic apparel, sunglasses and DVD boxed sets. To date, 758 domain names of websites engaged in the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and illegal copyrighted works have been seized as a result of Operation In Our Sites.

Read the full Department Of Justice article here

 

[dna]

I would have hoped that the Office of Homeland Security had better things
to do than seizing shoes, sunglasses and DVD boxed sets.

 

[iowadawg]

I would have hoped that the Office of Homeland Security had better things
to do than seizing shoes, sunglasses and DVD boxed sets.

COUNTERFEIT GOODS@!
Does that ring a bell?

I would hope our government is not going to stop with sites selling crap knock offs.

First, the companies who make and sell the originals lose money with idiots selling counterfeits of their products.
Second, to buy such counterfeits is feeding their habit of counterfeiting.
Third, in most cases you are paying for crap just because of the name on it...

No, I have no use for people who think this is so bad for DHS or any other government agency to stop counterfeiters!

 

[fm1234]

I wonder where they park? :D

 

[dna]

But what do shoes and sunglasses have to do with homeland security?
Are these exploding sunglasses?

 

[iowadawg]

But what do shoes and sunglasses have to do with homeland security?
Are these exploding sunglasses?

You just do not understand counterfeiting do you?

So you buy counterfeits?

Say you are in business and you make a popular sunglass called "BENITO".
You sell them for a good high price.

Then along comes some counterfeiter who makes a cheap knockoff of your sunglass and calls it "BENIITO".

You are losing money to that counterfeiter.

Please, until you know exactly what is going on, don't make such comments.

---------- Post added at 06:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:27 PM ----------

DOJ, if you read the article!
DOJ is Department of Justice.
In the DOJ is the FBI, ICE, DHS, and many, many more agencies.

SO again, why you have to say DHS when it is really the DOJ is a bit under!

 

[dna]

I do understand counterfeiting.
What I don't understand is what makes an old man act like a 12 year old.

 

[iowadawg]

bleep

 

[RaiderGirl]

But what do shoes and sunglasses have to do with homeland security?
Are these exploding sunglasses?

I suggest you research exactly what the duties of DHS actually are.. One thing they do is provide security at our ports, checking cargo containers carrying all sorts of items that may just include a bomb, and if they find counterfeit goods in the process, what would you like them to do? call the counterfeit police?

Oh wait, we don't have such a force, so why not create one just for searching out counterfeit goods, let's spend another $100 Billion dollars every year that we don't have on a new agency, growing the size of Government even more... Seriously, if we can kill two birds with one stone and save the taxpayers a lot of money, then WHY NOT?

 

[fm1234]

posted by iowadog:

You just do not understand counterfeiting do you?

Please, until you know exactly what is going on, don't make such comments.

DOJ, if you read the article!
DOJ is Department of Justice.
In the DOJ is the FBI, ICE, DHS, and many, many more agencies.

SO again, why you have to say DHS when it is really the DOJ is a bit under!

As a matter of fact, the investigation (as is clearly stated in the article) is being handled by ICE's Office of Homeland Security Investigations. So -- Homeland Security, who does not care one bit about trademark violation, which seems to be what you're saying was the point of the investigation. The DoJ has long maintained that the sale of counterfeit goods in the US funds terrorism which is why an investigation into counterfeit goods would be handled by a specialised office dealing in homeland security, rather than just rank-and-file investigators.

No idea what the point of all the vitriol in your post is, but just in point of fact, there is a difference between saying "DoJ" and "ICE," regardless of the fact that ICE is part of the DoJ. Try telling a retired Marine sometime that he didn't serve in the Marines, but rather in the USAF, and that he shouldn't say Marines unless he's an idiot, since all the various armed forces fall under the single umbrella of the USAF and the commander-in-chief.


Frank

 

[alien51]

I think this is similar with the US Secret Service being involved in investigating counterfeit US dollar notes.

And one would think, 'i thought the Secret Service's job is just to serve as bodyguard of the President'?

 

[DU]

save the taxpayers a lot of money

Words never before spoken about the DHS. You have broken new ground!

 

[iowadawg]

The Secret Service Division was created on July 5, 1865 in Washington, D.C., to suppress counterfeit currency. Chief William P. Wood was sworn in by Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch.

http://www.secretservice.gov/history.shtml

 

[alien51]

The Secret Service Division was created on July 5, 1865 in Washington, D.C., to suppress counterfeit currency. Chief William P. Wood was sworn in by Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch.

http://www.secretservice.gov/history.shtml

Ask today's Americans, and perhaps 96.35% of them will tell you they are the President's bodyguards and nothing else.

 

[miller]

Counterfeit’s are strange thing years ago they were much easier to detect but now with so many items being produced in “legal factories” and more often than not the same factories making the non counterfeit goods are making the counterfeit same materials, same workers, everything identical some might see it as poetic justice after these companies used all the cheap labor in Chinese, Mexican etc factories paying peanuts then there surprised when all these counterfeits come on the market.

Strange the US government thinks it needs to assist the wrong parties multi national corporations who do there up most to avoid paying any taxes (the local walmart worker probally pays more than they do ,,,)The corporations have the funds to pursue the sellers... Of course though it makes the streets safer less crime, robberies etc with all those counterfeits bags shoes sunglasses etc of the market would have thought the money would be better spent elsewhere...

 

[iowadawg]

Custom agents are at all ports and major airports.
That is their job.
So companies all they can do is make sure no counterfeits hit the market.
If so, they notify customs.

 

[Ms Domainer]

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When Beanie Babies were so popular, the "rare" ones were being counterfeited like crazy, often in the same Chinese factories that were manufacturing the genuine Ty product.

There were entire websites and authentication services devoted to rooting out counterfeits and offering tips on how to tell counterfeit Beanies by observing "stitching" patterns, paticularly in the neck area (I kid you not).

Fast forward to August 18, 2012. I attended a major Gem/Mineral show, where I saw (I swear on a stack of Bibles), a booth that was selling (at inflated prices) synthetic rough material AND synthetic quartz specimens (very ugly and garish colors not known in nature and obvious, but, sooner or later, these counterfeiters will get very good at creating natural-looking specimens. They already manufacture synthetic gems that can't be differentiated from the natural gems, except by some very knowledgeable and skilled labs. Even experienced jewelers can be fooled).

So I think the DOJ is wise in getting to the bottom of these counterfeit sites and shutting them down, whether its fake jewelry, gems, stuffed animals, designer purses, etc.

BTW, there is a synthetic diamond on the market, which costs about 10% of the natural gem price. Because the properties are exactly the same (10 hardness on the Mohs Scale, refraction the same), it is inevitable that some synthetic diamonds are being sold as natural--at natural diamond prices. There is nothing wrong with synthetic gems--as long as the info is disclosed and the price is in line. They can be quite beautiful, sometimes more so than natural (Alexandrite is a good example; the natural, about $30,000 a carat, can be dull and brownish in color, with not-so-great color change/shift, while the Russian-lab synthetic version is quite lovely, with a dramatic color change from Ruby (incandescent light) to Emerald (daylight and fluorescent).

So if you don't think counterfeiting matters, keep in mind that the diamond you give your girlfriend (or receive from your boyfriend) could possibly be a synthetic gem, and you wouldn't even know it, and the jeweler who sold it to you might not know, either. Very scary.

Counterfeiting is not all about designer purses and clothes.

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