Law enforcement agencies seize 292 domain names to protect consumers

The European Union’s law enforcement agency coordinated with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and 25 law enforcement agencies from 19 countries in the taking down of 292 domain names for sites that allegedly were selling counterfeit goods.

Europol said Monday that the sites were being used to illegally sell counterfeit merchandise including luxury goods, sportswear, electronics, pharmaceuticals and pirated goods like movies and music.

Bruce Foucart, acting director of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) in Washington, DC., said: “Consumers need to protect themselves, their families, and their personal financial information from the criminal networks operating these bogus sites.”

The seizure of the domain names was part of Operation In our Sites, a U.S. initiative that began in 2012, and brought the total number of seized sites to 1,829.

Consumers are being urged to contact authorities when they encounter counterfeit goods and the websites selling them “because counterfeiting crimes result in many victims.” They said that counterfeit sites can cause revenue and tax losses, unemployment, environmental, health and safety issues for humans and animals, while also aiding human exploitation and child labor.