Ecommerce crime intelligence
The listing looks ordinary. That's the whole problem.
Stolen merchandise, counterfeits, and diverted stock reach buyers the same way legitimate goods do — through a clean storefront on a major marketplace, at a believable price. Nothing on the screen gives it away. What's lost is a brand's name, a retailer's shelf, and a customer's trust in both.
Ecommerce crime has real victims: a family handed a dangerous fake, a retailer bled by organized theft, a brand whose product is sold through channels it never authorized, and a nation endangered by criminal money washed through ecommerce trade.
CIS exists to take away the criminals' cover. We watch the whole ecommerce system, expose the operators behind the harm, and put proof in the hands of the people who must act.
What the record already shows
On a commercial strip in Burien, Washington, a sign read "We Buy Gold, Silver, and Electronics." Inside, according to federal charging documents, the business bought goods stolen from area retailers, paid cash to the people who carried them in, and relisted the merchandise on two major marketplaces. The inventory told on itself. Many items still had the anti-theft devices attached. Others carried stickers restricting their sale to one named retailer, the kind of marking a legitimate wholesaler never sees.
Ordinary customers bought that merchandise and left good feedback. The storefront ran for years. Prosecutors charged its two operators with conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines.
Source: The Anatomy of an ORC Ecommerce Fence, built from the federal court file in the Western District of Washington.
Online fencing returns "70 percent or more of the retail value of the product versus approximately 30 percent through traditional fencing venues." Double the money, a national buyer pool, and a screen to sell from behind.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 32.4 million counterfeit and pirated items in fiscal year 2024. Those are the shipments that were stopped at the border, not the ones that reached a listing.
Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, IPR Seizure Statistics FY2024
We publish our own counts, and the method behind them, in the research. Read the research →
Where you stand decides what you see.
Brands
Your name is on the box, and you did not choose who ships it. We watch your brand and tell you who is really selling it.
For brands →Retailers
Goods swept off your shelves are relisted within days, priced like ordinary stock. We find the operators moving them and hand you the proof.
For retailers →Professionals
A case turns on tying a storefront to a person. We supply the case intelligence and, when it is needed, the expert testimony.
For professionals →Law enforcement
You have a storefront name and need the operator behind it. Seller histories and network maps turn that storefront into a case.
For law enforcement →You decide what happens next.
An alert tells you an event on your brand is real and worth your attention, and it lands with enough of what we saw that you can judge it yourself. When you want the operation behind it mapped, we already have the file started.
Criminal alerts
Get Criminal Alerts.
Our system already watches the major marketplaces. Ask us to watch your brand, and we send you an alert when a seller we classify as counterfeit-type, stolen-goods-type, or diversion-type turns up on your listings.
Get Criminal AlertsYou get the alert the moment we see it. The watch is free.