Organised crime using legal businesses to sell fake goods

Organised criminal networks are developing networks of seemingly legitimate and legal businesses to assist in the sale of counterfeit products in Europe, according to a just-published report from Europol.

Criminal networks have been tapping into high demand for low-priced goods – fuelled by the current cost-of-living crisis and consumers' ignorance of the dangers of counterfeit goods on the economy, health, and environment – to run lucrative product counterfeiting operations that run the risk of lesser penalties than other activities like licit drugs.

While the counterfeits are typically manufactured outside the EU, the 2025 edition of Europol's EU Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (EU-SOCTA; PDF) notes that small, seemingly legitimate manufacturing facilities and assembly points are also set up within the EU to help inveigle them into European markets.

Moreover, in one notorious example, the authorities in Greece uncovered a criminal network involved in counterfeiting luxury goods that had started using its own courier companies to distribute the more than 364,000 fake items, sold via a website and social media profiles, that made an estimated €18m in illicit profits.

The two courier companies would exchange goods and money multiple times to avoid detection and conceal their criminal activities, according to the report.

Europol notes that it is becoming increasingly concerned about counterfeit pesticides and fake automotive components, particularly airbags, which are among the products that are "posing the highest health, safety and environmental risks."

These are still mainly produced outside the EU, but recent investigations "highlight EU-based production networks with advanced equipment operating within the EU too," according to the report.

It also points to the increasing use of digital technologies to circumvent the need for physical retailers, such as 'social commerce' that combines social media with e-commerce, and predicts that tools such as 3D printing and artificial intelligence are "expected to grow in the near future, as they are set to enhance counterfeiting techniques even further, reducing the risk of human error and facilitating automated production."