Illicit Financial Flows and the Trade in Counterfeit Goods

• In Event: Criminal Markets: Piracy, Diamonds, Gambling and Counterfeit Goods

Abstract

The trade in counterfeit goods is growing and has been linked to the operations of transnational organised crime. Much work and popular scrutiny has examined these flows of illicit goods. Less scrutinised are the financial mechanisms that enable them. The need for financing can concern every 'stage' of illicit supply, from production, shipping, to retail, be that small or large scale. This paper presents findings from an interdisciplinary exploratory study exploring the financing of the trade in counterfeit goods. Key objectives include mapping material and financial flows relating to the trade in counterfeit products between the United Kingdom and China, exploring how the financing of counterfeit goods is facilitated by digital technologies, and analysing the connection of often legitimate finance with the business of trading counterfeits – from how consumers pay for them to how illicit traders move money along the value chain. In so doing, it highlights a shift away from simply physical markets to the intersection of e-commerce (both formal sites and the colonisation of social media) as a means to trade in counterfeit goods.

Authors

• Alexandra Hall, Teesside University

• Joanna Large, Teesside University

• Georgios A Antonopoulos, Teesside University

• Anqi Shen, Teesside University, United Kingdom