The financial aspects of the trade in counterfeit products

Antonopoulos, Georgios (2018). The financial aspects of the trade in counterfeit products. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-853017

The trade in counterfeit goods is growing and has been linked to the operations of transnational organised crime (TOC). Much work and popular scrutiny has examined these flows of illicit goods. Less scrutinised are the financial mechanisms that enable them. Drawing upon cross-disciplinary research expertise in social sciences (criminology and sociology) the humanities (law and geography), and working in collaboration with practitioners from the National Trading Standards e-Crime Team (NSeCT), the research investigates the financing of the trade in counterfeit goods. The study focuses specifically on financing and financing-related aspects of illicit markets in material counterfeit goods. Furthermore, while focusing on the UK context, it contributes to our understanding of TOC by examining financial and physical flows in the counterfeit trade over borders.

Data description (abstract)

This collection contains transcripts or notes from interviews with experts on the financial aspects of the trade in counterfeit products. This exploratory project's key objectives have been to: (1) identify the various forms and sources of financing that are being used to trade in counterfeit goods, payment settlements, costs for doing business, profits and investment of profits, (2) examine how the Internet and electronic commerce presents financial opportunities for counterfeiters and to explore how these online processes interact with the material trade in counterfeit products and (3) consider the role of licit financial and business structures in relation to the illicit trade in counterfeit products.

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