Crime Pattern ID: Counterfeit DVDs

This pattern may be found in larger cities and be an indicator of funding for organized crime/terrorism.

Pattern: Counterfeit DVDs

Victims: Intellectual Property Crime

Perpetrators: Sometimes inside job, variety of perps, known to be mechanism to fund terrorism/organized crime

Locations: global, locally look for delis, stores selling them

Times: not a factor for analysis

Tools: sellers may not be counterfeiters, tools not obvious to law enforcement as indicator, labels, dvds, computers etc. may be evidence

Vehicles/Transportation Routes: sometimes counterfeit goods are sold out of the back of trucks and other vehicles, large shipments of counterfeit dvds sometimes recovered enroute

Stolen Goods: Have identifying marks/details, read more about them below in resource section

Method: Since it is fairly easy to download dvds illegally, and many places sell dvds, this crime is undetectable without proactive investigations

Motive: financial gain

Query terms: dvds, fake, phony, counterfeit, delis

Suggestions: Track any arrests for these types of crimes and not arrestees due to possible link to terrorist financing issues, note patterns of location

Resources:

Reporting Intellectual Property Crime: A Guide for Victims of Counterfeiting, Copyright Infringement, and Theft of Trade Secrets

Protecting the Motion Picture Industry From Intellectual Property Theft