When Kebharu Smith joined Amazon in 2020 to lead its newly formed Counterfeit Crimes Unit (CCU), he brought with him a career’s worth of experience from his work in law enforcement. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Smith spent nearly two decades as a state and federal prosecutor, with his final years focused on intellectual property crimes at the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS). He prosecuted complex fraud, organized retail crime, trade secret thieves, and intellectual property infringers—making him uniquely suited to take on an old crime that has found new life in the digital age: counterfeiting.
“Counterfeiting is one of the oldest criminal enterprises in the world,” Smith says. “It erodes trust by duping unwitting buyers, puts consumers at risk, and harms brands and legitimate businesses. And with the complexity of this space growing by the day, we are always evolving our detection and enforcement partnerships to stay ahead of bad actors.”
Today, the CCU is part of a broader strategy to protect customers, uphold brand trust, and deter criminal operations around the world. In an interview with Smith, he goes deeper into the mission of the team, how they’ve evolved, and what excites him most about the future of the anti-counterfeiting space.
1. Why was the CCU founded and what is its mission?
“The CCU was established in 2020 with support from Amazon’s highest levels to take an aggressive and proactive approach to combating counterfeiters and bad actors attempting to sell counterfeit products in Amazon’s store. The unit’s mission is to disrupt and dismantle counterfeit organisations globally through two primary approaches: filing lawsuits against bad actors and referring cases to law enforcement. And when we do refer matters to law enforcement, we share data with them—data that would otherwise require a subpoena or legal process—but we provide it proactively to support their investigations. This data sharing helps law enforcement and prosecutors move much faster to take swift enforcement action against bad actors. For example, we’ve heard from law enforcement partners that this collaborative sharing has helped them jump-start their investigations and reduce investigation time by six months. Further, CCU is well-equipped for these partnerships as the team is comprised of former prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and data analysts who work together to protect customers and rights owners.”
2. How has the CCU evolved over the past five years?
“While the CCU’s mission has always been global, one of the most significant developments has been the number, the scope, and the strength of the partnerships we’ve developed with law enforcement and other agencies on the ground. In just five years, the CCU has grown from seven government agency partnerships to more than 50 today. Last year in China alone, the unit coordinated 60 raid actions resulting in over 100 arrests. And when you’re able to go up stream and stop bad actors at the source—the manufacturers and distributors—it reminds you that we’re not just protecting Amazon customers, we’re completely removing counterfeits from the supply chain, protecting consumers no matter where they choose to shop. That brings me back to my roots at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and reminds me why I do this work. It aligns the mission I had there with the mission here - and it lets me have a broader impact while staying customer-centric. The CCU has also expanded its focus beyond traditional counterfeiting to address new threats like fake reviews, falsified invoices and other supply chain documentation, and invalid trademarks being used to access Amazon’s Brand Registry to submit fake infringement notices. The unit’s evolution reflects its ability to adapt to changing tactics used by bad actors.
3. You mentioned your work at the Department of Justice. Can you tell us a little more about the types of cases you worked on there and how that work made you a good fit for this role of leading the CCU?
“I started out as a criminal prosecutor in Texas back in 2001. I was in state court for close to eight years. I handled a wide range of cases—robberies, murders, Driving While Intoxicated (DWIs), theft, pretty much everything. I tried over 100 cases across courtrooms in Texas. In 2008, I joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston, handling federal crimes. I did that for about 12 years total. Around 2015, I took a temporary assignment at DOJ Main Justice in D.C.
But before I left Houston, I worked on my first counterfeit medicine case. Bad actors were shipping the product from China, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intercepted it in San Francisco. They saw the box of loose pills, realised it didn’t look right, and matched it against trademarked versions. It was indeed counterfeit. CBP and Homeland Security coordinated a controlled delivery. An undercover agent delivered the box to a Houston address and when the target accepted the package and acknowledged ownership, they arrested him on the spot. We ultimately identified other co-conspirators charged them, and prevented others from potential harm.
I also prosecuted organised retail crime (ORC), including a high-profile case that involved individuals being trafficked into the U.S. to steal retail products. These items included medicines to treat heartburn and ulcers, toothpaste, razors, and baby formula. The stolen goods were then shipped for resale in bodegas and small stores across the United States.
In 2012, the National Retail Federation awarded the federal prosecution team their annual Retail Partnership Award for our work pursuing the $20 million scheme. And in 2014, a defendant in a separate ORC indictment was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison and ordered to pay over $500,000 in restitution after a Houston jury deliberated for an hour and convicted him for transporting stolen property across state lines.
After my temporary assignment in D.C., I joined the DOJ’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS), where I focused on IP crime and cybercrime—malware, ransomware, and counterfeit goods. I trained judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement from around the world, in partnership with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). I also built on my counterfeit experience by handling a counterfeit pet medicine case that led to a national recall after it hit shelves. These cases really symbolised for me both the dangers that counterfeits pose, and how counterfeit goods can show up in physical stores just as easily as they can online—which is a key reminder for all of us. After that, I continued working with a number of brands on various counterfeit investigations. That was the tail end of my prosecution career before joining Amazon.”
4. What are some of the CCU’s most significant achievements?
“First and foremost, we are proud of the impact our work has had on keeping customers around the world safe from counterfeits. One early case I’m especially proud of involved a massive counterfeit shipment coming in on a cargo vessel. We worked with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security in Newark, New Jersey, and managed to seize around nine 18-wheeler loads of counterfeit automotive grills. That case was a wake-up call. It showed how large-scale and industrial these operations can be—and how important coordination with law enforcement is.
Another significant area is our enforcement against social media-based, ‘generic link’ schemes. Here, influencers on platforms like on various social media platforms were sending direct messages to followers saying things like: ‘Buy this generic bag on this Amazon listing, and you’ll receive a counterfeit luxury bag.’ These schemes are designed to operate outside of our store, bypassing Amazon’s proactive enforcement tools, so we filed lawsuits against several of these actors. Our goal was both enforcement and education of law enforcement partners—to help them recognise and pursue these newer forms of fraud.
Beyond enforcement, I’m especially proud of the work we’ve done with small and medium-sized businesses. These are companies that often lack large legal teams or brand protection departments. When they face counterfeit harm, we cover the cost of litigation, allowing them to pursue justice without bearing the financial burden. That’s a core part of our mission.
Finally, internationally, we’ve expanded our footprint. Over the last five years, the CCU’s global reach has expanded from operating in just two countries initially to 12 countries today, including the U.S., China, France, India, and the UK. We’re actively seeking new partners both domestically and internationally. We’re particularly excited about the potential for data sharing with future partners and expanding our investigations into countries like India. This global approach is crucial because counterfeiters don’t respect borders—and neither should our efforts to stop them.
5. What do you see as the biggest emerging threats in the counterfeit space? What trends are you keeping an eye on to stay ahead of bad actors?
There are a few trends we’re watching closely. Some aren’t new, but they’re evolving in ways that require constant attention, new strategies, and partnerships to stay ahead.
One tactic we continue to see involves bad actors shipping counterfeit products separate from the labels. This is meant to evade detection by customs authorities and to deceive customers. The good news is that U.S. criminal law allows enforcement action even when only the counterfeit labels are intercepted, thanks to the Trafficking in Counterfeit Goods Statute.
We’re seeing a rise in counterfeit promotion through social media influencers, livestream shopping platforms, and encrypted chats. These are growing channels for bad actors, and ones that the CCU is actively targeting—we’ve already filed lawsuits and plan to file more.
Finally, the OECD recently highlighted something that really resonated with me: counterfeiters’ adoption of ‘localisation’ strategies to produce fakes closer to end markets. As Amazon moves toward more regionalised fulfilment, counterfeiters are doing the same—localising their supply chains to fly under the radar. This decentralisation makes it harder to focus enforcement because the volume is spread across many small targets, much like how small-package imports complicate border inspections.”
6. What excites you most about the CCU and its future?
“A couple of things. First, our work helps protect consumers globally. When we go after the source of counterfeits—whether that’s manufacturers or distributors in places like China or Türkiye—it really is about protecting consumers more broadly, beyond the Amazon store. In many of the enforcement actions we took in 2024, we partnered with a single brand, but when our partners entered the facility where counterfeits were being made, they found infringement against many brands. So the impact scales—and that’s really powerful.
Second, the team. It’s the team that enables this work. We’ve got incredible data analysts and business intelligence engineers who are scouring our data, working with our risk managers to build out criminal referrals. In one case, law enforcement told us our referral gave them a six-month head start in their investigation. That’s huge. It means law enforcement can move a lot faster—and CCU played a big part in that.
I am also really excited about how the team is leaning into artificial intelligence (AI). We’re using AI to automate logo matching and accelerate lead generation, which helps us move faster. And this isn’t just a CCU thing—it’s a cross-Amazon effort with thousands of people building these systems. But even within CCU, we’re innovating, moving quickly, and deploying cutting-edge tools to up-level and scale our work against bad actors.”
Protecting Trust, Scaling Impact
As counterfeiters become more sophisticated, so too must the efforts to stop them. Under Kebharu Smith’s leadership, the CCU has evolved into a global force—combining legal acumen, data-driven precision, and cross-border collaboration to protect consumers, brands, and the integrity of online commerce. While the fight against counterfeiting is far from over, with cutting-edge tools, strong partnerships, and a relentless commitment to stopping counterfeiting at the source, the CCU will continue working towards protecting all consumers globally.
To learn more about Amazon’s holds bad actors accountable, visit our Counterfeit Crimes Unit page.