Raids launched on counterfeiters tracked down from Facebook

In a move senior police say they have not yet seen in the country, North Yorkshire County Council trading standards officers are currently conducting a wide-ranging series of Facebook raids on illegal traders they have tracked down and followed using the social networking site.

It marks a major shift from investigations into the supply of counterfeit goods, which have traditionally centred around traders at markets, car boot sales and pubs, and has already resulted in the seizure of hundreds of items including clothing and footwear.

Officers executed their first warrant in relation to a Facebook counterfeiter in Scarborough in early December.

Further investigations using the social media site have revealed multiple other offenders, with a series of raids planned across the county in the coming days and weeks.

Ruth Andrews, head of Fraud and Financial Investigations at North Yorkshire Trading Standards, said: “We are well aware of what is happening.

“Just because people think they have hidden their identity and whereabouts by using a Facebook address, they should not think that we are unable to carry out enquiries to establish their identity.

“We can and we will.

“Counterfeiting is a serious offence.

“Not only are consumers being misled into buying goods they believe are genuine, but local, legitimate traders are unable to compete with those who sell in this way, flouting intellectual property laws and failing to pay the relevant taxes.

“In times of recession, it is more important than ever that we take appropriate action to protect the market for local, law-abiding retailers, and that we protect consumers who have less and less disposable income.”

Gordon Scobbie, deputy chief constable of Tayside Police and UK police lead for social media, told the Yorkshire Post the Facebook raids represent an important step forward in the way crime is being investigated on the internet.

“Their strategy seems to me to be the right one,” he said.

“More and more people will be using the internet to commit crime and they leave a footprint.

“Social networking now is part of mainstream society and we need to make it part of mainstream policing.

“It is also a very cost-effective way of carrying out an investigation.

“I am trying to join this up more effectively across UK policing.

“Social media used to be about how do we use it to engage better with the public and to reach out to different aspects of society.

“Criminals are on social media and we need to be in that space as well.

“Criminals see it as an opportunity and they will exploit that.

“It is the same crime they are committing, they are just using the internet to commit that crime in a more creative way.”

Internet crime is now a £27bn a year industry in England and an investigation by the Yorkshire Post revealed yesterday that councils across the region are enduring thousands of external cyber attacks upon their IT systems every day – with East Riding Council last year recording an average of more than two e-crime attacks every second and up to 200 a second at peak times.

The attacks come from all over the world, with a large number originating from North Africa, and are designed by criminals to exploit the treasure-trove of personal information that councils hold.

It was announced at the Association of Chief Police Officers’ e-crime conference in Sheffield last week that a specialist unit, designed to combat a growing threat from cyber criminals, will be based in the region after chief officers secured £30m Government funding.

The new hubs will also be created in the North West and the East Midlands and work alongside an existing e-crime unit run by the Metropolitan Police.