Amazon Seizes 15 Million Counterfeits in 2024: AI Crackdown

New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) Amazon identified, seized, and disposed of more than 15 million counterfeit products globally in 2024, preventing these knockoffs from harming customers or being peddled elsewhere, according to a latest report that underlined how the e-commerce giant is extensively using AI to crackdown on fake goods.

Amazon said, last year, it invested over a billion dollars and employed thousands of people -- including machine learning scientists, software developers, and expert investigators -- who were dedicated to protecting customers, brands, selling partners, and store from counterfeit, fraud, and other forms of abuse.

Investment in artificial intelligence has enabled the company to improve proactive controls, automating and scaling intellectual property protection and counterfeit detection systems, Amazon's 2024 Brand Protection Report said.

The report said Amazon's proactive controls blocked more than 99 per cent of suspected infringing listings before a brand ever had to find and report them.

Overall, even as the products available for sale in its online store continued to grow, the total valid notices of infringement submitted by brands reduced by about 35 per cent.

"Since its launch in 2020, Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit has pursued more than 24,000 bad actors through litigation and criminal referrals to law enforcement. In 2024, Amazon identified, seized, and appropriately disposed of more than 15 million counterfeit products worldwide, preventing them from harming customers or being resold elsewhere in the retail supply chain," it said.

Over 2.5 billion product units have been verified as genuine through Amazon's Transparency programme, and it has enrolled 88,000 brands worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, global brands, startups, and small businesses.

Kebharu Smith, Director and Associate General Counsel, Amazon, noted that the company sees India as a critical market and accords top priority to protecting customers and sellers from counterfeit products here.

"And so we're using some of our brand protection programmes including our brand registry, our transparency and Project Zero, to help brands safeguard their IP and remove counterfeit listings," he said.

Smith further said that the success in blocking 99 per cent of suspected infringing listings before the brands could find and report them, is a critical outcome not just for India but globally.

"We have increased engagement with Indian industry bodies to conduct capacity building workshops across the country. We've increased consumer safety messaging as we see it as a shared responsibility and an industry-wide concern," Smith said.