How fake handbags fund terrorism and organized crime | Alastair Gray

Summary

The speaker, a counterfeit investigator, recounts a tense encounter with a seller of luxury polo shirts, revealing the underworld of counterfeit goods. They explain how counterfeiting funds serious crimes, including child labor, organized crime, and even terrorism. The investigator shares their experiences in the field, busting large-scale operations and emphasizing the importance of consumer awareness. They provide practical tips for identifying counterfeits and urge the audience to join the fight against this illicit trade.

Takeaways

• 🕵️‍♂️ The speaker is a counterfeit investigator who goes undercover to expose illegal trade in luxury goods.
• 🏪 The investigator's encounters with counterfeit sellers involve tense exchanges and a need for careful questioning to gather evidence without arousing suspicion.
• 🚨 Counterfeit goods are not a victimless crime; they can be linked to serious issues like child labor, organized crime, and even terrorism financing.
• 💸 The profits from counterfeit goods can be substantial, often much higher than those from illegal drugs, and are used to fund criminal activities.
• 🌍 Counterfeiting is a global issue, with networks spanning multiple continents and involving various types of products, from clothing to car parts.
• 🔍 The investigator's work involves meticulous research and surveillance, leading to raids that can result in the seizure of millions of counterfeit items.
• 🛒 Consumers are often unaware of the dark side of counterfeit goods, thinking they are just a harmless bargain.
• 🛍️ The speaker shares personal anecdotes to highlight the ubiquity of counterfeit goods and how easily people can be drawn into buying them.
• 💡 The speaker provides practical tips for consumers to identify counterfeit websites and goods, emphasizing the importance of vigilance in the fight against counterfeiting.
• 🌐 The demand for counterfeit goods fuels a dangerous underground economy, and the speaker calls for collective action to reduce this demand and starve criminal networks of funds.

Q & A

What was the setting of the initial encounter described in the script?

The setting was a self-storage unit in the east of London, where the narrator met a man selling 2,000 luxury polo shirts.

What was the purpose of the narrator's meeting with the man selling polo shirts?

The narrator, a counterfeit investigator, was there to assess the authenticity of the polo shirts and gather information about the seller's operations.

How did the seller react when the narrator started asking questions about the polo shirts?

Initially, the seller was suspicious and interrogated the narrator about their identity and intentions. Later, he began to open up as the narrator asked about the origin and paperwork of the polo shirts.

What was the outcome of the investigation after the narrator left the storage unit?

The information gathered led to a dawn raid on the seller's house, seizure of all products, and the revelation that he was part of a larger counterfeiting network.

Why is counterfeiting considered more than just a victimless crime according to the script?

Counterfeiting is linked to serious issues such as child labor, organized crime, and even terrorism, as the profits from selling fakes can fund these activities.

What was the narrator's personal experience with counterfeit goods before becoming an investigator?

In the narrator's youth, they bought fake watches while on holiday in the Canary Islands.

What are some of the products the narrator has investigated in their career as an intellectual property investigator?

The narrator has investigated a range of counterfeit products including car parts, alloy wheels, pet grooming tools, bicycle parts, and luxury leather goods, clothing, and shoes.

What was the scale of the counterfeit operation described in the Turkish warehouse raids?

Over two million finished counterfeit clothing products were seized, requiring 16 trucks to transport them away.

How did the counterfeiters in the Turkish case attempt to legitimize their operations?

The counterfeiters created their own fashion brands with registered trademarks and staged photo shoots on yachts in Italy to make their operations appear legitimate.

What is the potential annual death toll attributed to counterfeit car parts as mentioned in the script?

It is estimated that counterfeit car parts, particularly faulty ones, contribute to over 36,000 fatalities on roads each year.

What is the projected size of the counterfeit economy and what are its implications?

The counterfeit economy is projected to become a 2.3-trillion-dollar industry, with the potential to fund terrorism and other serious crimes.

What advice does the narrator give to the audience to help combat counterfeiting?

The narrator suggests becoming vigilant and acting as investigators by looking for suspicious website URLs, unrealistic discounts, lack of secure payment indicators, and generic contact information when shopping online.

Outlines

00:00

🕵️‍♂️ Undercover in the World of Counterfeit Goods

The speaker recounts their experience as a counterfeit investigator, beginning with a tense encounter in a self-storage unit in London where they met a seller with 2,000 luxury polo shirts. The investigator navigates a delicate balance of inquiry to gather information without arousing suspicion. They describe the adrenaline-fueled aftermath of such meetings and the eventual law enforcement action that leads to a larger counterfeiting network spanning three continents. The speaker emphasizes the gravity of counterfeiting, dispelling the myth that it's a victimless crime by highlighting its connections to child labor, organized crime, and even terrorism. They share their journey from a naive buyer of fake watches to a dedicated intellectual property investigator, uncovering the vast and dangerous world of counterfeit goods.

05:01

🚨 The Global Impact of Counterfeiting

The speaker details a significant investigation into counterfeit clothing, which led to raids on five warehouses in Turkey, resulting in the seizure of over two million counterfeit items. They describe the sophistication of the counterfeiters, who created fake brands with registered trademarks to mask their illegal activities. The investigation revealed a network that laundered nearly three million euros and attempted to bribe law firms to recover seized goods. The speaker outlines the far-reaching consequences of counterfeiting, including its funding of terrorism, and provides real-world examples of how counterfeit products have financed terrorist attacks. They stress the importance of recognizing the severity of counterfeiting and the role of consumers in inadvertently supporting criminal activities.

10:01

🛍️ Combating Counterfeiting: Tips for the Savvy Consumer

The speaker concludes by sharing practical advice on how to identify and avoid counterfeit goods. They provide tips such as scrutinizing website URLs for relevance to the product, being wary of websites that claim to offer genuine items at drastically reduced prices, and looking for secure 'https' and padlock symbols on checkout pages. They also advise checking for a 'Contact Us' page with genuine contact information as a sign of legitimacy. The speaker encourages everyone to become investigators in their own right, to cut off the funding for criminal networks by reducing demand for counterfeit goods. They call for a collective effort to expose and combat counterfeiting, emphasizing the real and immediate danger it poses to society.

Keywords

💡Counterfeiting

Counterfeiting refers to the illegal reproduction of goods, often luxury or branded items, with the intent to deceive consumers into believing they are purchasing genuine products. In the video, the speaker discusses their experiences as a counterfeit investigator, highlighting the scale and impact of counterfeiting, which is not just a victimless crime but is linked to serious issues such as child labor, organized crime, and even terrorism. The script mentions various forms of counterfeit goods, including luxury polo shirts, car parts, and fashion items, emphasizing the widespread nature of the issue.

💡Self-storage unit

A self-storage unit is a rented space where individuals or businesses can store their belongings. In the context of the video, the speaker describes an encounter in a self-storage unit where they found a large quantity of counterfeit luxury polo shirts for sale. This setting is used to illustrate the clandestine nature of the counterfeit trade and how it operates in unexpected places.

💡Padlocks

Padlocks are a type of lock that fastens around a gate or post and is secured with a removable shackle. The video script mentions four padlocks securing a unit, which serves as a visual cue to the high-security measures taken by counterfeiters to protect their illicit goods. This detail underscores the seriousness and the organized nature of the counterfeiting operations.

💡Intellectual property investigator

An intellectual property investigator is a professional who specializes in identifying and combating infringements of intellectual property rights, such as trademarks, copyrights, and patents. The speaker in the video is one such investigator, and the script describes their undercover work, including creating aliases and investigating various types of counterfeit goods. This role is central to the narrative, as it represents the fight against counterfeiting and the protection of legitimate businesses and consumers.

💡Organized crime

Organized crime refers to criminal activities conducted by groups of individuals working in a coordinated manner. In the video, the speaker connects counterfeiting to organized crime, suggesting that the profits from selling counterfeit goods often fund more serious crimes, such as drug trafficking, prostitution, and even terrorism. This keyword is crucial for understanding the broader implications of counterfeiting beyond the immediate act of selling fake goods.

💡Terrorism funding

The video discusses how counterfeiting is not only a threat to economies and businesses but also a means by which terrorist organizations fund their activities. The script provides examples of how the proceeds from selling counterfeit goods have been linked to financing terrorist attacks, making the issue of counterfeiting a matter of national security and public safety.

💡Child labor

Child labor is the exploitation of children for work, often in hazardous conditions and without fair compensation. The video script alludes to the grim reality that some counterfeit goods, like handbags, may be produced by children who have been trafficked. This keyword is used to highlight the human rights abuses that can be connected to the counterfeit trade.

💡Undercover operation

An undercover operation involves conducting investigations or transactions while concealing one's true identity or purpose. The speaker describes their experiences in conducting undercover operations to gather evidence against counterfeiters. This keyword is integral to the narrative, as it illustrates the methods used by investigators to infiltrate and expose illegal networks.

💡Raids

A raid is a sudden and forceful entry into a place to search, seize, or arrest. The script mentions several instances of raids conducted by law enforcement on warehouses and other locations involved in counterfeiting. These raids are depicted as critical actions in the fight against counterfeiting, resulting in the seizure of large quantities of counterfeit goods and the disruption of criminal networks.

💡Fake car parts

Fake car parts are counterfeit automotive components that are sold as genuine but do not meet safety or quality standards. The video script warns about the dangers of such parts, which can lead to fatalities due to malfunctions. This keyword is used to illustrate the serious and sometimes deadly consequences of counterfeiting in everyday products.

💡Online counterfeiting

Online counterfeiting refers to the sale of counterfeit goods through the internet, often on e-commerce platforms or via websites. The speaker provides tips on how to identify online counterfeiters, such as suspicious URLs, unrealistic discounts, and lack of secure payment indicators. This keyword is significant as it relates to the growing trend of counterfeit goods being sold online, which poses a challenge for both consumers and law enforcement.

Highlights

The investigator's encounter with a man selling luxury polo shirts in a self-storage unit.

The investigator's role as an undercover agent in the counterfeit goods market.

The description of the tense meeting with the seller, complete with a cliche gangster movie-like setting.

The investigator's careful questioning to gather information without arousing suspicion.

The revelation of the seller's connection to a larger counterfeiting network spanning three continents.

The aftermath of the meeting, where the investigator feels the adrenaline rush and the uncertainty of being followed.

The impact of counterfeiting on unsuspecting victims, including child labor and organized crime.

The shocking connection between counterfeit goods and the funding of terrorism.

The investigator's personal history with counterfeit goods and the transition to becoming an intellectual property investigator.

The investigator's decade-long experience in investigating various types of counterfeit products.

The high profit margins and low risks associated with selling counterfeit goods online.

A real-life case study of a counterfeit clothing operation in Turkey and the scale of their operation.

The clever tactics used by counterfeiters to appear legitimate, including creating their own brands and trademarks.

The investigator's experience at automotive trade shows, where counterfeiters operate alongside legitimate businesses.

The alarming statistic that counterfeit car parts may contribute to over 36,000 road fatalities annually.

The projected size of the counterfeit economy and its potential to fund serious crimes and terrorism.

Historical examples of how counterfeit goods have funded terrorist attacks, including the Charlie Hebdo and Madrid train bombings.

The call to action for consumers to become investigators and cut the demand for counterfeit goods.

Practical tips for identifying counterfeit websites and products to avoid supporting criminal networks.

The importance of reporting counterfeit goods on social media platforms to help combat the issue.

The investigator's final plea to the audience to be vigilant and question the authenticity of goods before purchasing.

Transcripts

Two years ago, I set off from central London on the Tube

and ended up somewhere in the east of the city

walking into a self-storage unit

to meet a guy that had 2,000 luxury polo shirts for sale.

And as I made my way down the corridor,

a broken, blinking light made it just like the cliche scene

from a gangster movie.

Our man was early, and he was waiting for me

in front of a unit secured with four padlocks down the side.

On our opening exchange,

it was like a verbal sparring match

where he threw the first punches.

Who was I? Did I have a business card?

And where was I going to sell?

And then, he just started opening up,

and it was my turn.

Where were the polo shirts coming from?

What paperwork did he have?

And when was his next shipment going to arrive?

I was treading the fine line

between asking enough questions to get what I needed

and not enough for him to become suspicious,

because what he didn't know is that I'm a counterfeit investigator,

(Laughter)

and after 20 minutes or so of checking over the product

for the telltale signs of counterfeit production --

say, badly stitched labels or how the packaging

had a huge brand logo stamped all over the front of it --

I was finally on my way out,

but not before he insisted on walking down to the street with me

and back to the station.

And the feeling after these meetings is always the same:

my heart is beating like a drum,

because you never know if they've actually bought your story,

or they're going to start following you to see who you really are.

Relief only comes when you turn the first corner

and glance behind, and they're not standing there.

But what our counterfeit polo shirt seller certainly didn't realize

is that everything I'd seen and heard would result in a dawn raid on his house,

him being woken out of bed by eight men on his doorstep

and all his product seized.

But this would reveal that he was just a pawn

at the end of a counterfeiting network spanning three continents,

and he was just the first loose thread that I'd started to pull on

in the hope that it would all unravel.

Why go through all that trouble?

Well, maybe counterfeiting is a victimless crime?

These big companies, they make enough money,

so if anything,

counterfeiting is just a free form of advertising, right?

And consumers believe just that --

that the buying and selling of fakes is not that big a deal.

But I'm here to tell you that that is just not true.

What the tourist on holiday doesn't see about those fake handbags

is they may well have been stitched together

by a child who was trafficked away from her family,

and what the car repair shop owner doesn't realize

about those fake brake pads

is they may well be lining the pockets of an organized crime gang

involved in drugs and prostitution.

And while those two things are horrible to think about,

it gets much worse,

because counterfeiting is even funding terrorism.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Terrorists are selling fakes to fund attacks,

attacks in our cities that try to make victims of all of us.

You wouldn't buy a live scorpion,

because there's a chance that it would sting you on the way home,

but would you still buy a fake handbag

if you knew the profits would enable someone to buy bullets

that would kill you and other innocent people six months later?

Maybe not.

OK, time to come clean.

In my youth --

yeah, I might look like I'm still clinging on to it a bit --

I bought fake watches while on holiday in the Canary Islands.

But why do I tell you this?

Well, we've all done it,

or we know someone that's done it.

And until this very moment, maybe you didn't think twice about it,

and nor did I,

until I answered a 20-word cryptic advert

to become an intellectual property investigator.

It said "Full training given and some international travel."

Within a week, I was creating my first of many aliases,

and in the 10 years since, I've investigated fake car parts,

alloy wheels, fake pet grooming tools,

fake bicycle parts,

and, of course, the counterfeiter's favorite,

fake luxury leather goods, clothing and shoes.

And what I've learned in the 10 years of investigating fakes

is that once you start to scratch the surface,

you find that they are rotten to the core,

as are the people and organizations that are making money from them,

because they are profiting on a massive, massive scale.

You can only make around a hundred to 200 percent

selling drugs on the street.

You can make 2,000 percent selling fakes online

with little of the same risks or penalties.

And this quick, easy money

then goes on to fund the more serious types of crime,

and it pays the way to making these organizations,

these criminal organizations, look more legitimate.

So let me bring you in on a live case.

Earlier this year, a series of raids took place

in one of my longest-running investigations.

Five warehouses were raided in Turkey,

and over two million finished counterfeit clothing products were seized,

and it took 16 trucks to take that all away.

But this gang had been clever.

They had gone to the lengths of creating their own fashion brands,

complete with registered trademarks,

and even having photo shoots on yachts in Italy.

And they would use these completely unheard-of and unsuspicious brand names

as a way of shipping container loads of fakes

to shell companies that they'd set up across Europe.

And documents found during those raids

found that they'd been falsifying shipping documents

so the customs officials would literally have no idea

who had sent the products in the first place.

When police got access to just one bank account,

they found nearly three million euros

had been laundered out of Spain in less than two years,

and just two days after those raids,

that gang were trying to bribe a law firm to get their stock back.

Even now, we have no idea where all that money went,

to who it went to,

but you can bet it's never going to benefit the likes of you or me.

But these aren't just low-level street thugs.

They're business professionals, and they fly first class.

They trick legitimate businesses

with convincing fake invoices and paperwork,

so everything just seems real,

and then they set up eBay and Amazon accounts

just to compete with the people they've already sold fakes to.

But this isn't just happening online.

For a few years, I also used to attend automotive trade shows

taking place in huge exhibition spaces,

but away from the Ferraris and the Bentleys and the flashing lights,

there'd be companies selling fakes:

companies with a brochure on the counter

and another one underneath, if you ask them the right questions.

And they would sell me fake car parts, faulty fake car parts

that have been estimated to cause over 36,000 fatalities,

deaths on our roads each year.

Counterfeiting is set to become a 2.3-trillion-dollar underground economy,

and the damage that can be done with that kind of money,

it's really frightening ...

because fakes fund terror.

Fake trainers on the streets of Paris,

fake cigarettes in West Africa,

and pirate music CDs in the USA

have all gone on to fund trips to training camps,

bought weapons and ammunition, or the ingredients for explosives.

In June 2014, the French security services

stopped monitoring the communications of Said and Cherif Kouachi,

the two brothers who had been on a terror watch list for three years.

But that summer, they were only picking up that Cherif was buying

fake trainers from China,

so it signaled a shift away from extremism

into what was considered a low-level petty crime.

The threat had gone away.

Seven months later,

the two brothers walked into the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine

and killed 12 people, wounded 11 more,

with guns from the proceeds of those fakes.

So whatever you think, this isn't a faraway problem happening in China.

It's happening right here.

And Paris is not unique.

Ten years earlier, in 2004, 191 people lost their lives

when a Madrid commuter train was bombed.

The attack had been partly funded by the sale of pirate music CDs in the US.

Two years prior to that, an Al Qaeda training manual

recommended explicitly selling fakes

as a good way of supporting terror cells.

But despite this, despite the evidence connecting terrorism and counterfeiting,

we do go on buying them, increasing the demand

to the point where there's even a store in Turkey

called "I Love Genuine Fakes."

And you have tourists posing with photographs on TripAdvisor,

giving it five-star reviews.

But would those same tourists have gone into a store

called "I Love Genuine Fake Viagra Pills"

or "I Genuinely Love Funding Terrorism"?

I doubt it.

Many of us think that we're completely helpless

against organized crime and terrorism,

that we can do nothing about the next attack,

but I believe you can.

You can by becoming investigators, too.

The way we cripple these networks is to cut their funding,

and that means cutting the demand

and changing this idea that it's a victimless crime.

Let's all identify counterfeiters,

and don't give them our money.

So here's a few tips from one investigator to another

to get you started.

Number one:

here's a typical online counterfeiter's website.

Note the URL.

If you're shopping for sunglasses or camera lenses, say,

and you come across a website like medical-insurance-bankruptcy.com,

start to get very suspicious.

(Laughter)

Counterfeiters register expired domain names

as a way of keeping up the old website's Google page ranking.

Number two:

is the website screaming at you that everything is 100 percent genuine,

but still giving you 75 percent off the latest collection?

Look for words like "master copy,"

"overruns," "straight from the factory."

They could write this all in Comic Sans, it's that much of a joke.

(Laughter)

Number three:

if you get as far as the checkout page,

and you don't see "https" or a padlock symbol next to the URL,

you should really start thinking about closing the tab,

because these indicate active security measures

that will keep your personal and credit card information safe.

OK, last one:

go hunting for the "Contact Us" page.

If you can only find a generic webform,

no company name, telephone number, email address, postal address --

that's it, case closed.

You found a counterfeiter.

Sadly, you're going to have to go back to Google

and start your shopping search all over again,

but you didn't get ripped off, so that's only a good thing.

As the world's most famous fictional detective would say,

"Watson, the game is afoot."

Only this time, my investigator friends,

the game is painfully real.

So the next time you're shopping online,

or perhaps wherever it is,

look closer, question a little bit deeper, and ask yourself --

before you hand over the cash or click "Buy,"

"Am I sure this is real?"

Tell your friend that used to buy counterfeit watches

that he may just have brought the next attack one day closer.

And, if you see an Instagram advert for fakes,

don't keep scrolling past,

report it to the platform as a scam.

Let's shine a light on the dark forces of counterfeiting

that are hiding in plain sight.

So please, spread the word

and don't stop investigating.

Thank you.

(Applause)