Consumers are being warned that the innocent purchases of counterfeit products from Internet sites and markets are funding terrorist and criminal organizations...Meanwhile, Hezbollah is handing out free money.
"It does not have to involve the sale of anything sinister," said Spencer Burgess, director of Carratu International's Intellectual Property Investigations division. "It's easy to make money from something as bland as a T-shirt. The perception many people have that counterfeiting is run by small groups that are just trying to make a few dollars on the side is completely misplaced. It is very much more organized and malicious."
Extensive inquiries by Carratu International have unearthed links between counterfeiting and Al Qaeda, Hisbollah, the IRA, ETA, the Mafia, Chinese Triad gangs, the Japanese Yakuza crime syndicate, the Russian Mafia, and drug cartels. Indeed, the recovery of Al Qaeda training manuals shows that the organization recommends the sale of counterfeit products to raise funds.
"The bogus clothes people are buying of the Internet might be helping to prop up terrorist or criminal gangs. Every major terrorist group in the world is into counterfeiting on way or another. It is a fairly straightforward way to raise funds." said Spencer Burgess.
-- Nick
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