E-commerce giant Amazon has published its third annual Brand Protection Report, detailing the progress it has made in its efforts to protect its customers, brands, and selling partners from counterfeit products. The report reveals that the company’s strategic approach, which combines industry-leading technology with the expertise of its professionals, has successfully prevented over six million counterfeit products from being sold on its platform in 2022.

The report highlights the significant progress made by Amazon in four key areas: the implementation of robust proactive controls to protect its marketplace, the deployment of powerful tools to protect brands, the holding of bad actors accountable, and the protection and education of customers.

Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s Vice President of Worldwide Selling Partner Services, said, “We take pride in the progress our organization has made this past year, specifically further evolving our technology to stay ahead of bad actors and doubling down on our criminal referral and litigation efforts. We’re appreciative of the growing industry-wide collaboration in this space, and look forward to continuing to innovate and work together to drive counterfeits to zero.”

Amazon has made significant strides in deterring bad actors from attempting to create new selling accounts on its platform. In 2022, over 800,000 attempts to create new selling accounts were stopped, compared to 2.5 million attempts in 2021 and 6 million attempts in 2020.

Furthermore, the company has expanded the adoption of its automated protection technologies, which reduce the need for brands to find and report infringements. This has resulted in a decrease of over 35% in the absolute number of valid notices of infringement filed by brands in Brand Registry.

Amazon has also been holding counterfeiters accountable for their actions. The Counterfeit Crimes Unit of Amazon sued or referred for investigation over 1,300 criminals in the US, UK, EU, and China in 2022. The company has partnered with brands and law enforcement agencies to identify and dismantle counterfeit organizations, resulting in the seizure and appropriate disposal of over six million counterfeit products.

Finally, Amazon has strengthened consumer education by collaborating with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to develop marketing campaigns that educate consumers on how to shop safely and ensure that they are purchasing authentic products.