Alibaba operation busts more than 400 production ‘rackets’

Intelligence and leads from e-commerce website Alibaba have allowed authorities to bust more than 400 production “rackets”.

In a statement released by Alizila, a provider of news about Alibaba, the e-commerce website said that between April and July this year, 332 suspects were arrested and fake goods valued at RMB 1.43 billion ($2.1 billion) were seized as part of Operation Cloud Sword.

The operation, an effort between Alibaba and China’s Ministry of Public Security, used Alibaba’s data engine, demonstrating the “role ‘big data’ will play in the future of intellectual property enforcement actions”, according to Alizila.

In July this year, public security officers in 12 Chinese provinces and municipalities raided 13 factories and shops, seizing 15,000 random access memory (RAM) modules valued at more than RMB 120 million.

The officers arrested 16 people who were suspected of counterfeiting the chips and selling them on Alibaba’s Taobao shopping platform as purported Kingston and Samsung products.

Alizila said big data for the operation came from “key anti-counterfeiting technology” that provided information to shut down 58 online stores selling the counterfeit memory products.

“We’re combining and analysing an immense amount of data on those who attempt to traffic in counterfeit goods across our platforms,” said Matthew Bassiur, head of global IP enforcement at Alibaba.

He added that big data analytics, and other information at Alibaba’s disposal, will allow it to identify online counterfeiters and assist law enforcement authorities in “holding these bad actors accountable for their illicit acts”.