Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau

Counterfeiting had grown throughout the twentieth century and with each passing decade, counterfeits grew more sophisticated and technology matured in congruence with them. By the middle of the 1980s, it had become perfectly clear to the International Chamber of Commerce in London that anti-counterfeiting had to be performed on a large scale to help combat the ever increasing numbers of counterfeiters.

The solution this organization developed was the Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau, an agency designed to safeguard industry from counterfeiting and all of the perils it entails. This agency performs the essential work to ensure the viability of the world economy.

In 2004, the Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau stated that counterfeiting accounted for nearly eight percent of trade throughout the world. Perhaps counterfeiting was not as widespread in 1985 when Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau was founded, but clearly anti-counterfeiting measures were needed.

The Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau aims to stop counterfeiting through undercover operations, confiscations of counterfeit goods, and effective intelligence gathering. The bureau itself is comprised of various members, each of whom receive the requisite training necessary to perform anti-counterfeiting directly from the Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau. Some of these members include trade associations, technology producers, law firms, investigative firms, and even global conglomerates.

The Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau has engaged in excess of six hundred anti-counterfeiting operations in dozens of locales throughout the globe. These investigations are not centered on one particular type of counterfeiting as the agency has targeted commodities such as wall coverings, alcoholic beverages, furniture, and pharmaceuticals.

With such a varied mixture of counterfeit items to monitor, the organization stays in close contact with law enforcement and governmental authorities in a whole host of countries to ensure that they have the most updated and reliable information required to undertake their anti-counterfeiting measures swiftly and successfully.

Counterfeiting is a crime that needs an organization such as the Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau because it can elicit such a broad spectrum of maladies upon society. Counterfeiting has the potential to chill investment, harm corporate reputations, fund terrorism, and put the stability of worldwide economies in jeopardy. The practice of counterfeiting can accomplish this through the illegal and fraudulent production of various consumer productions that many individuals will purchase believing that their acquisition can do no serious ill.

Therefore, the Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau has initiated such measures as a Live Seizure Report to help inform the public of their work and the nefarious deeds of counterfeiters. On their Live Seizure Report, members of the public can review any anti-counterfeiting confiscation handled in the prior two weeks by the bureau. The quantity of the items seized and their potential value are often listed so individuals can see the true breadth of the situation with their own eyes.

The Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau performs a vital service to the sustained solvency of all nations by tracking down counterfeiting operations and informing the public of their successes. Through the bureau's diligent efforts, perhaps the world will see a decline in the eight percent of counterfeit merchandise sold and traded worldwide.

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