Online shopping has become the norm, the issue of counterfeit products has been a growing concern for both consumers and businesses alike. Amazon, the e-commerce giant, has been at the forefront of this battle, constantly innovating and investing in cutting-edge technologies to protect its customers and brand partners from the menace of fake goods.
According to Amazon's latest 'Brand Protection Report,' over 7 million worldwide counterfeit products were identified, seized, and appropriately disposed of by Amazon in 2023, preventing them from harming customers or being resold elsewhere in the supply chain.
Just over 700,000 bad actor attempts to create new selling accounts stopped by Amazon in 2023, stopping them before they were able to list a single product for sale in our store. Over 21,000 bad actors pursued by the Amazon Counterfeit Crime unit through litigation and criminal referrals to law enforcement.
These extremely high numbers show the prevailing scale of the fake products and the effectiveness of Amazon's anti-counterfeiting measures. Over 1.6 billion product units enrolled in Transparency have been authenticated as genuine through code scan verification, whether sold in Amazon’s store or elsewhere in the retail supply chain.
Amazon ended the year with an over 30% decrease in total valid notices of infringement submitted by brands since 2020, while the number of the products available for sale in Amazon's store continues to grow.
To achieve this feat, Amazon invested more than $1.2 billion and employed over 15,000 experts, including machine learning scientists, software developers, and expert investigators. These dedicated professionals work tirelessly to safeguard customers, brands, and selling partners from counterfeit, fraud, and other forms of abuse.
One of the key components of Amazon's anti-counterfeiting strategy is its advanced machine learning algorithms. These sophisticated systems constantly scan through billions of product listing updates every day, identifying and removing suspected counterfeit listings with remarkable accuracy. In fact, Amazon's AI-powered tools have proven to be 100 times more effective than manual detection methods based on brand reports.
In addition to automated protections, Amazon has also empowered brands with tools like Project Zero and the Counterfeit Crimes Unit. Amazon's Project Zero combines machine learning, self-service counterfeit removal, and product serialization to proactively detect and remove counterfeits. The Counterfeit Crimes Unit, on the other hand, works closely with brands and law enforcement agencies worldwide to pursue bad actors and bring them to justice.
The impact of Amazon's anti-counterfeiting efforts is evident in the numbers. In 2023, the company prevented over 700,000 attempts by bad actors to create new selling accounts, a significant decrease from the 6 million attempts in 2020. Furthermore, Amazon's proactive controls blocked more than 99% of suspected infringing listings before brands even had to report them.
