Amazon joined with luxury brand Cartier in filing lawsuits against alleged counterfeiters. Amazon claimed the defendants used a technique to evade its detection system.
The lawsuits allege that a social media influencer conspired with bad actors and promoted counterfeit luxury products—including fake Cartier bracelets, necklaces, and rings—on Instagram as well as their own websites.
According to Amazon’s press release: “The criminals openly posted photos of counterfeit Cartier jewelry, with a description of the infringing product on Instagram, but on Amazon and other websites, they created product detail pages for generic products with no indication of infringement. The defendants then provided customers on Instagram a link to the generic product on Amazon or other websites, and they told customers if they purchased the generic item, they would receive a counterfeit Cartier product.”
It went on to allege the following: “The criminals repeatedly directed and instructed their social media followers on how to try to purchase infringing products on Amazon, by directing them to links or sending direct messages from Instagram, on how to purchase “high-quality copies” of luxury brands such as Cartier in the Amazon store and other online marketplaces.”
The lawsuits were brought with the help of Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit, which the company created in 2020. The global team consists of former law enforcement officials who work with current law enforcement agencies and brands to investigate and litigate both criminally and through civil lawsuits.
The Amazon press release is found on the AboutAmazon.com website, and one of the lawsuits can be found on this page of DocketAlarm.com.
