1 week ago
Amazon Expands India Counterfeit Unit to Fight Fake Products
Amazon is expanding a team in India that fights fake products.
The team is called the Counterfeit Crimes Unit, or CCU.
Fake products can harm customers and honest sellers.
Amazon works with more than 1.7 million sellers in India.
About half of those sellers are in smaller tier-two and tier-three cities.
The CCU says it is working with Indian law-enforcement agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Amazon says it helped identify, seize and dispose of more than 15 million fake products worldwide in 2025.
It also says it blocked more than 285 million suspected fake reviews that year.
The company says these efforts are meant to protect customers and build trust in genuine products.
Amazon is expanding its Counterfeit Crimes Unit operations in India to combat counterfeit-product networks.
The company works with more than 1.7 million sellers in India, about half of whom are in tier-two and tier-three cities.
The unit says it is strengthening cooperation with Indian law-enforcement agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Amazon said it helped identify, seize and dispose of more than 15 million counterfeit products globally in 2025.
Amazon reported pursuing more than 32,000 alleged bad actors and blocking over 285 million suspected fake reviews worldwide in 2025.
- Who
- Amazon, its Counterfeit Crimes Unit led by Director Kebharu Smith, and Indian law-enforcement agencies.
- What
- Amazon is expanding the operations of its anti-counterfeit unit in India.
- Where
- India, as part of the CCU’s global operations.
- When
- The expansion was announced on Friday, August 21; the CCU was launched in June 2020, and the company cited enforcement activity during 2025.
- Why
- To combat counterfeit products, protect sellers and consumers, and strengthen customer trust in product authenticity.
Key facts
- Indian sellers
- Amazon works with more than 1.7 million sellers in India; about half are from tier-two and tier-three cities.
- CCU launch
- Amazon launched the Counterfeit Crimes Unit in June 2020.
- Global cases
- The CCU has pursued more than 32,000 alleged bad actors globally.
- Counterfeit products
- Amazon said it helped identify, seize and appropriately dispose of more than 15 million counterfeit products worldwide in 2025.
- Enforcement raids
- Amazon conducted more than 70 raids with partners against counterfeit manufacturers, suppliers and distributors in 2025.
- Fake reviews
- Amazon said it proactively blocked more than 285 million suspected fake reviews worldwide in 2025.
- Product verification
- More than 2.7 billion product units have been verified as genuine through Amazon’s Transparency programme.
Quotes
Kebharu Smith
Director of Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit
“Amazon today works with more than 1.7 million sellers in India and half of them are from tier two and tier three cities.”
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“We understand that customer trust is hard to earn and easy to lose.”
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Sources
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