  Counterfeits harm consumers, governments, and intellectual property holders.
They accounted for 3.3% of worldwide trades in 2016, having an estimated value
of $509 billion in the same year. While estimations are mostly based on border
seizures, we examined openly labeled counterfeits on darknet markets, which
allowed us to gather and analyze information from a different perspective.
Here, we analyzed data from 11 darknet markets for the period Jan-2014 and
Sep-2015. The findings suggest that darknet markets harbor similar counterfeit
product types as found in seizures but that the share of watches is higher and
lower for electronics, clothes, shoes, and Tobacco on darknet markets. Also,
darknet market counterfeits seem to have similar shipping origins as seized
goods, with some exceptions, such as a relatively high share (5%) of dark
market counterfeits originating from the US. Lastly, counterfeits on dark
markets tend to have a relatively low price and sales volume. However, based on
preliminary estimations, the original products on the surface web seem to be
worth a multiple of the prices of the counterfeit counterparts on darknet
markets. Gathering insights about counterfeits from darknet markets can be
valuable for businesses and authorities and be cost-effective compared to
border seizures. Thus, monitoring darknet markets can help us understand the
counterfeit landscape better.
