The WAITO Foundation’s 2011 report provides an international reference in the fight against organized crime and dangerous counterfeiting (Counterfeiting-crime©) prejudicing the stability of States and the security of their populations, and industrial sectors, whose responsibility it is to guarantee the protection of consumers. For more information visit - http://waitofoundation.org

1. A Criminologist’s Perspective (Xavier Raufer)
President of the WAITO Foundation Scientific Committee
A. Counterfeiting as a criminal activity
Firstly, let us consider the scale of this problem taking the example of the two Californian
ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Together, these two ports see more than 50,000 ships a day, and manage 1 billion US$ of
goods. Each 40-foot long containers can hold up to 12,300 boxes of shoes, 20,000 dolls or
6,000 dresses on hangers.
One container full of contraband cigarettes, sold on the American black-market, means a
loss of 350,000 US$ in fiscal income for the federal budget and for the US States
concerned.
As outlined in further detail below, mass criminal counterfeiting is dangerous and harmful for
societies on both sides of the North-South divide. Both in the real and virtual worlds, and in
various converging ways:
• Criminal counterfeiting seriously harms public health (adulterated products,
counterfeit medicines, etc.);
• Criminal counterfeiting also constitutes a societal threat (falsification of identity or
official documents, and social, economic and financial certificates);
• Finally, it constitutes a social threat (job loss, etc.)
Therefore, transnational organized crime no doubt sees criminal counterfeiting as a major
st
“cash cow” for the first part of the 21 century – and perhaps soon its main source of
revenue, as is explained in the second part of A Criminologist’s Perspective, “Drugs and
counterfeiting: a domino effect?”.
Geopolitical approach: the Gulf awash with counterfeited object
Let us take a look at the wave of counterfeit material goods that is flooding the countries of
the Arab Persian Gulf States, in particular the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Two reasons for
this are that:
• It is a society of well-off, or wealthy, consumers;
• In geopolitical terms, the region is a unique crossroads for trade, half-way
between Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, and close to the Middle East;
Moreover, the European Union observes that the United Arab Emirates are often used as a
transit port for large shipments of counterfeit products arriving from Asia. Thus:
• In 2008, 12.3% of counterfeits seized in Europe came from the Emirates;
• In 2009, 14.6% of counterfeits seized in Europe also arrived from this region.
In 2009, the Emirates were also the last identified ports of transit for 73% of counterfeit
medicines, 30% counterfeit CD/DVDs and 15% counterfeit cigarettes seized in the
1
European Union. In the UAE themselves, except for the Emirate of Abu-Dhabi , counterfeit
products in the following sectors are available on mass:
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2. • Industrial sector
Counterfeit refrigerators, ventilators, air-conditioning units, computers, printers, car
batteries, chargers or telephone and computer batteries, neon strips, spare car parts,
2
counterfeit accessories, pieces and consumables (ink cartridges) HP or other cooling
cylinders for refrigerators and air-conditioning units.
• Pharmaceutical, healthcare, cosmetics and herbal sector
Counterfeit erectile dysfunction products, antibiotics, body lotions, shampoo, soaps,
slimming products, etc.
• Luxury sector
Watches with different trademarks and origins, handbags, suitcases, sunglasses,
perfumes, clothes.
• Electronic sector
Mobile phones such as the fake Blackberry Curve, know as BB China (10 times cheaper
than the genuine product), identical to the original, iPods, DVDs, hands-free sets, and
fake earphones.
• Food sector
Packets of saffron, chocolate bars, fizzy drinks, etc.
• Sportswear sector
Clothes, gloves, shoes, etc.
New and worrying: everyday consumer goods
Not all these counterfeits are dangerous in practice. However, in the predatory world of
crime, where professional specialization is not necessary, counterfeiting everyday
consumer goods goes hand in hand with other abuses and trafficking, and helps to
finance other criminal activities. Therefore there is an evident continuum between the
phenomenon as a whole and each of its individual branches.
In Australia, according to the customs authorities, the volume of counterfeit products
constitutes a full-scale consumer product “black market”, operating from discount shops,
street markets, etc. This includes products such as alcohol, batteries, toothbrushes,
tobacco, nappies, household appliances, toys, shaving razors, spare vehicle parts,
washing powder, soaps, mobile phones, etc. Trading losses are estimated at 635 million
US$ a year, for the sportswear market alone.
However, Australia is a minor target country when compared with the sportswear sector in
Mexico, which suffers losses of 10 billion US$ a year.
In the area of household products, US Customs is concerned by the development of a
fake detergent market. In September 2010 alone, 25,000 packets of fake Ariel were
seized.
However, the greatest concern is for products that endanger consumers.
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3. The Indian government estimates that, in the spare vehicle part sector, beyond the
financial injury evaluated in 2009 at 340 million euros, these counterfeit products are
directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of 25,400 people and the injuries of 93,000
others. In the food sector, it is difficult to distinguish between the health risks of counterfeit
products caused by the products themselves and their industrial environment, and those
caused by the storage of these products.Counterfeiters have no qualms about adding
forbidden antibiotics and sometimes even steroids to counterfeit products. But mostly,
products are already contaminated with mycotoxins or heavy metals, not to mention the
animals that absorb counterfeit veterinary or phytosanitary substances.
And the list continues. Counterfeit medicines, in particular, are highly profitable,
generating a turnover of approximately 200 billion US$ a year, according to the World
Customs Organization, killing tens of thousand of patients. The official experts do not
hesitate in comparing the drug market with the pharmaceutical crime market: 1000
US$ invested in the manufacture of heroine generate a 20,000 US$ return. The same sum
invested in counterfeit medicines generates 450,000 US$. In the space of 4 years, from
2003 to 2007, one internet counterfeit medicine supplier alone sold 9 million US$ of
counterfeit Viagra.
The tobacco industry is not far behind the high profits generated by pharmaceutical crime.
Counterfeit cigarettes and fake cigarettes together generate approximately 50 billion
US$ a year. However, these counterfeit cigarettes are a highly toxic: they contain up to 30
times more toxic agents than legal cigarettes, capable of turning tobacco-hooked
teenagers into a generation lung cancer victims under the age of 40.
B. Drugs and counterfeiting: a “domino effect”?
Does one swallow a summer make? No, but it is interesting to see that, for two years now,
there has been a significant decrease in the use of drugs in the United Kingdom, home to
the “Swinging London” of the 1960’s, which saw the start of the “fashion” for drugs in
Europe.
This was a disaster for the United Kingdom. While in 1960 only 5% of young Britons
confessed to having taken drugs at least once, the figure had risen to almost 50% in 2005,
the year when drug consumption peaked.
Therefore, over 40 uninterrupted years, an increasing number of Britons consumed an
increasing amount of drugs more often. Now, however, the trend seems to have become
inverted, particularly among younger generations.
According to the British National Health Service, only 20% of 16-24 year olds took some
kind of drug in 2010 (22.6% in 2009)- an all-time low since the study began (1996: 30%).
The same goes for the decrease in the consumption of the most toxic drugs (heroine,
cocaine): 8.1% of young users in 2009, 7.1% in 2010.
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4. This trend was confirmed by a survey carried out regarding the consumption of drugs in
nightclubs (Mixmag magazine, March 2011). At the beginning of 2011 (year-on-year)
results showed that, in clubs, the consumption of cocaine had fallen by 20% and cannabis
and ecstasy by 5%. This is a significant decrease given that, while in 2000, 9 out of 10
clubbers took drugs, today the figure has dropped to no more than 50%, 40% less drug
users in a decade!
The same goes for the youngest age group (11-15). In 2008, 85% had not taken drugs
and in 2009 this had risen to 88%. This covers all temporal variants: taking drugs “at least
once in your lifetime”, “in the last year” and “in the last month”.
So even if, for the time being, this decrease only concerns the United Kingdom and
although drug addiction continues to be a major and vicious problem on the continent,
especially in France and Germany, this significant insular decrease- over several years
now- is nevertheless, and our words are weighted, of considerable geopolitical
importance. This is for two reasons:
• The drugs market, starting with cannabis, is a mass market in our continent:
according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, there are 23
million cannabis consumers in Europe, of which 4 million consume various times a week.
• According to the UN, this is, above all, because the international drugs market-
worth a yearly 235 billion dollars for wholesale operations (enriching the cartels and
st
mafias)- is the third largest market in the world, after the (legal) petrol (1 ) and the arms
nd
(2 ) markets.
Therefore, the decrease of drug-use in the United Kingdom is a trend that should be
followed closely, and which raises two important questions:
• Why has there been such a decrease among young people? This reversal of the
trend is, of course, too recent to be able to give a proper explanation. But here is a first
attempt: in a generation that increasingly operates “horizontally”; constantly linked to its
peers via countless electronic means of communication (mobile phones, text messaging,
Facebook, Twitter, etc.), currents of opinion develop rapidly and can win over a whole age
group. One of these major currents says that drugs- at least those sold by drug-dealers-
are “not cool”. In short, young people have no wish to resemble haggard zombies of the
Pete Doherty or Amy Winehouse ilk, constantly shown by celebrity magazines staggering
from one overdose to the next.
• Does this decrease only affect the demand for drugs? In other words, is this
decrease only produced by a younger generation, previously fascinated by drugs but now
rejecting the “trashy” lifestyle of fallen celebrities? No, the drugs supply in the United
Kingdom has also decreased for two different reasons:
- In recent studies, young people say that they are less often offered drugs on the
street, or in the normal dealing grounds (clubs, etc.);
- When they do find some, the drugs are of a very poor, sometimes appalling,
quality; e.g. highly diluted cocaine and ecstasy without any ecstasy!
However, this quantitative and qualitative decline in supply among dealers, is the result of
police work. The UK now has an effective criminal intelligence tool in the “Serious
Organised Crime Agency” SOCA, which delivers stronger and increasingly precise blows
against drug traffickers.
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5. Drug trafficking is increasingly controlled, the penalties against drug traffickers are
heavier and confiscations are better targeted and more effective. However, we also
know that when criminals consider that one cash source is too risky, or too
complicated to mine, they switch to another.
The displacement effect is an intangible law of criminology. No matter when or where,
criminals with a predatory instinct relinquish prey that put up too much resistance, are
too well protected or are sufficiently-equipped to defend themselves, for other, more
fragile and more naïve targets. For example, if there is too much protection around
banks, they will move on to supermarkets, and so on.
Criminals do not aim to achieve great exploits or beat any records; they simply want to
get rich as quickly as possible, running the least possible risk. The recipe for this is
agility, opportunism, and a basic cost-benefit analysis.
Although, there is no material evidence so far, this suggests that certain sectors of
organized crime are leaving drug trafficking (too risky, less lucrative) for another
source of revenue, just as lucrative and hardly and poorly controlled: mass
counterfeiting. Is this theory justified? In any case, it is worth exploring, assessing and
seeing whether it holds water in the long term.
Conclusion- Looking to the future
In terms of counterfeit-smuggling, the worst is yet to come. Particularly, in two
particular areas: counterfeiting/identity theft, and the criminal colonization of e-
commerce.
Identity theft kits
In April 2011, Customs at the Airport of Chicago seized 1700 high-quality American
driving license falsifications, most probably ordered in China by Chinese students
living in the United States. These falsified licenses claimed to have been issued in the
States of South Dakota, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
This could herald the falsification of a whole range of ID and social documents, and
bank cards.
The invasion of e-commerce
Bogus websites are flooding the Internet. They appear, operate and disappear in a
short space of time- making them difficult to control. Often, these sites are used to sell
counterfeit products and goods: CD/DVDs, luxury brands, toys, vehicle parts, mobile
phones, wines, food products, software, beauty products and sportswear. They also
sell medicines. Experts say that most of the medicines currently sold on the internet
are counterfeits.
In 2004, French customs’ seizures of products sold online accounted for 2% of all the
products seized. In 2010 this had risen to 10%. Currently, out of 6.2 million counterfeit
products seized, 1 million are sold online.
What can be done?
Firstly, we need to become aware of the gravity of the problem. Public opinion and the
media need to demand that political leaders and professionals reveal the real state of
play, including precise figures. Without such figures, we have no way of identifying any
lack of figures. There should be more international conferences on this subject, with
reports and publications.
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6. The global economy must encourage and help those who are focusing on the real
problem - counterfeiting as a criminal activity - instead of losing time and money on
those who just want to bury their heads in the sands of “intellectual property”.
First, thought, the official services in charge of controlling criminal counterfeiting must
be unified, harmonized, simplified and given precise mandates and clear instructions.
The example here is taken from the United States, which in 2003 merged the
Immigration and Naturalization service, the US Customs, the Border Patrols and the
Federal Agriculture Inspectors. As a whole the US Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) is a force of approximately 58 000 employees, the main preventive/control
service in the country.
In fighting criminal counterfeiting, Europe and large European countries, will also
benefit from unifying their ranks and simplifying their administrations.
Sources
- Interviews with professionals concerned,
- Recent media sources:
2001
Le Monde, 8/06/2011 “Contrefaçon : le fléau se propage dans l’e-commerce”
Bellingham Herald, 22/05/2011 “Mexico’s crime groups grabbing lucrative market for pirated
goods”
AFP, 19/05/2011 “US companies losses to counterfeit goods in China”
The National, 15/05/2011 “Brands urge big fines for fakes”
The National, 15/05/2011 “Fakes prompt genuine concern”
CBS News, 11/05/2011 “Counterfeiting threat looms over drug industry”
Gulf Today, 10/05/2011 “Police deal with 198 fake cases in 4 months, 825 000 HP items seized”
Le Figaro, 4/05/2011 “La déferlante des contrefaçons”
The Age (Australia), 1/05/2011 “Fake detergent a new face on dirty money laundering”
Associated Press, 14/04/2011 “Customs: fake US licences being sent from China”
Los Angeles Times, 8/04/2011 “Los Angeles and Long Beach ports are on the font lines of a
crackdown on counterfeit goods”
EFE, 30/03/2011 “Piracy soars 500% in Mexico, security firm says”
The Herald, (Ulster) 23/03/2011 “Warning over number of crime gangs”
Gulf News, (& Department of Economic Development Dubai) 8/03/2011 “International anti-
counterfeiting coalition”
Khaleej Times, (Emirates) 3/03/2011 “ UAE - Fake drugs, a dangerous choice”
CNBC, 25/02/2011 “Gangs, terrorists, mafia make huge profits selling… cigarettes”
The Economic Times, (India) 22/02/2011 “Counterfeit auto parts costing government Rupees 2
200 crore per annum”
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7. Report RSSFeed/Zach Bowman (Automotive News China), 16/02/2011 “Counterfeit parts overwhelm
China, include fake airbags, oil seals”
Khaleej Times, (Emirates) 21/01/2011 “Fake Blackberries proliferate in Sharjah, Dubai”
Reuters, 20/01/2011 “Nokia: out of five cell phones sold is one unlicensed copy” Scotland TV,
19/01/2011 “Investigation reveals true danger of counterfeit cigarettes”
Seattle Times, 15/01/2011 “Port sleuths on the trail of counterfeit goods”
The Hill, 2/01/2011 « Study: 24% of web traffic involves piracy »
Emirates 24/7, 2/01/2011 “Abu Dhabi destroys 3 000 kilos of fake cosmetics”
World Economic Forum - Global Risks 2011 - Table 3, Rough estimated market size of illicit goods
based on public sources
HAVOCSCOPE specialized site www.havocscope.com
2010
Emirates News Agency, 30/12/2010 “Economy ministry organises first conference on combating
commercial fraud and counterfeiting”
Korea Times, 21/12/2010 “Counterfeit Vuitton bags - distorted status symbol”
Emirates 24/7, 13/10/2010 “Largest watchmaker ‘fed up’ with Gulf fakes”
Le Monde, 7/10/2010 “L’agroalimentaire, source mondiale de trafics“
Le Figaro, 4/10/2010 “La contrefaçon sur Internet, fléau européen”
International Herald Tribune, 21/08/2010 “Inside a factory making knockoff shoes”
European Commission, Brussels - IP/10/995 - 22/07/2010 “Fight against fakes: Commission publishes
Annual Report on EU Customs actions to enforce intellectual property rights”
International Herald Tribune, 10/07/2010 “Pfizer sends its own agents on the trail of counterfeit Viagra”
Reuters, 11/06/2010 “Customs group to fight $ 200 billion bogus drug industry”
The Star, 11/06/2010 “UN - Illicit cigarette trade funds terrorism, organised crime.
1
The
authorities
of
this
Emirate
routinely
carry
out
inspections
and
raids
of
workshops,
warehouses,
etc.
Specific
sanctions
(10,000
dirhams,
approx.
1900€)
are
imposed
for
each
infraction
and
shops
are
closed
after
the
third
offense.
In
total
and
for
the
whole
of
the
UAE,
some
444,000
counterfeit
products
were
seized
in
2008,
900,000
in
2010
from
the
2.4
million
products
seized
in
the
l arger
M iddle
East
region.
2
In
the
first
quarter
of
2011,
825,000
HP
products
alone
were
seized
in
the
E mirates.
v
v v
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8. Copyright-­‐
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