S THE SEASON FOR CYBER SCAMS ON LUXURY GOODS
Cyveillance Says One in Five Sites Sells Counterfeit Goods
12/07/98 -- ALEXANDRIA, VA -- Cyveillance, the leading provider of Intelligent Internet
Surveillance, today released a study of e-commerce sites indicating that an estimated
20,000-25,000 Internet sites are selling luxury consumer goods this holiday season,
and between 10 and 20 percent of those are peddling counterfeit wares. These
knock-offs and imitation goods are posing as elite brands such as Gucci, Coach, Calvin
Klein and Rolex, to name a few. The study is based on a detailed analysis, conducted
by Cyveillance, of more than 150,000 World Wide Web pages.
"Children's toys are not the only items being counterfeited and sold over the Internet
this holiday," said Brandy Thomas, CEO and chairman of Cyveillance, whose
patent-pending technology protects well-known brands against devaluation and loss of
marketshare due to misuse on the Internet. "The Internet has become a hotbed for sale
of counterfeit luxury items that you might typically find on any street corner in New York
City—watches, pens, sunglasses, leather goods, you name it. Like in the streets of New
York, prices that seem too good to be true, usually are."
"The Internet is a powerful medium that currently reaches more than 100 million
people," said Christopher Young, Cyveillance president and COO. "With every click of
the mouse, companies are increasingly at risk of losing significant marketshare due to
brand confusion and devaluation of their image while cheap imitations become ever
more accessible over the Internet. Internet pirates are costing companies billions by
illegally distributing counterfeit versions of their products. An impending crisis awaits
companies that don't act now to protect their valuable brands on the Internet as the
Web continues to grow."
A study recently released by Dell Computer and Louis Harris & Associates found that
43 percent of Americans who use computers say they will likely shop online this holiday
season, up 330 percent over last year. Additionally, Forrester Research predicts that
online spending this holiday season will be $3.5 billion. Forrester also estimates that
between 500,000 and one million sites are conducting some form of e-commerce. The
online retail market is growing exponentially, exceeding 200 percent growth per year.
"This problem is only going to get worse," warns Thomas. "Buyers should beware this
holiday season and throughout the calendar year, and companies should view this as a
wake-up call. The Internet is currently not a safe place to conduct business."
For a look at some of these counterfeiting sites, visit the following URLs:
bargaincorner.com
offtherunway.com
offtherunway.com
scoobi.com
topreplicas.com
st3.yahoo.com
angelfire.com
Cyveillance, founded in the spring of 1997, is a privately-held, minority-owned company
based in Alexandria, Virginia. The company uses its proprietary technology to locate
sites that are using the Internet to illegally distribute companies' products and damage
corporate images online, providing a powerful tool that yields tangible solutions to
companies' problems today. Cyveillance technology can locate text, video, audio and
graphics on behalf of its clients, which span across industries such as consumer goods,
software, recording, publishing and motion pictures among others. Cyveillance offers
four core products that focus on helping customers identify and take action against
infringements in the areas of e-commerce, copyright and trademarks, pornography and
image/online rumors. For additional information on Cyveillance, visit the company's
Web site at www.cyveillance.com.
Contact: Diane Perlman, Cyveillance
Voice: 703-519-4674
Email: dperlman@cyveillance.com
or
Contact: Angela Toda, Terpin Group
Voice: 212-473-7500 x 13
Email: atoda@terpin.com |
