Romanian and other European websites closed down on Cyber Monday for selling Nike, Hermes fakes

Cyber Monday, the next Monday after the shopping spree on Black Friday, did not bring the expected higher sales for some retailers, but it did bring some seizure notices. As many as 130 websites, including some from Romania, were closed down for selling counterfeit products. The US and EU authorities worked with Romanian, Belgian, French, Danish and British authorities to close down fake Nike, Hermes and Ergobaby products. It was the first time when the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) and the Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) worked with the European Police Office (Europol) and local authorities to seize domain names. “The 132 domain names seized are part of Project Cyber Monday 3 and Project Transatlantic. These websites were set up to dupe consumers into unknowingly buying counterfeit goods as part of the holiday shopping season,” according to ICE. In addition to the domain name seizures, which now belong to the respective Governments, officials identified PayPal accounts utilized by the infringing websites. Proceeds received through these PayPal accounts, more than USD 175,000, are currently being targeted for seizure in the US. “During this operation, federal law enforcement officers made undercover purchases of a host of products; including professional sports jerseys, DVD sets, and a variety of clothing, jewelry and luxury goods from online retailers who were suspected of selling counterfeit products. If the copyright holders confirmed that the purchased products were counterfeit or otherwise illegal, seizure orders for the domain names of the websites that sold these goods were obtained from federal magistrate judges,” the ICE explained. Over 1,600 such websites have been seized since the operation started in June 2010. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Nike's Facebook page)