Jeremy Wilson, Justin Heinonen and Thomas Holt, 2012

The growing pace of e-commerce has facilitated the sale and distribution of counterfeit products. One reason may be that consumers cannot fully validate goods for sale online, thus creating tremendous opportunities for fraud. Despite the growth of online product counterfeiting specifically, little research has examined this crime which limits our basic understanding of the problem and victim reporting. Drawing on 2009 and 2010 complainant data from the Internet Crime Complaint Center, we examine the characteristics, costs, and reporting of online auction and non-auction product counterfeiting incidents. In light of the limitations of this study, we discuss the contribution of our findings for advancing theory and future research.

This article was published in International Criminal Justice Review. Subscription may be required to view article. 

2012 Copyright Michigan State University Board of Trustees.

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