The data point: Amazon identified, seized, and disposed of more than 15 million counterfeit products worldwide last year—preventing them from reaching customers or being reintroduced into the broader retail supply chain—according to its inaugural Trustworthy Shopping Experience Report.

The retailer is positioning itself as a central player in the global fight against fraud, highlighting a shift toward detecting threats before they emerge, dismantling criminal networks at their source, and equipping consumers with tools to shop safely across channels.

The strategy: Amazon frames its approach around four pillars:

• Proactive controls: All new sellers must complete Amazon’s verification process before being allowed to sell. The company also employs continuous monitoring and performance scoring—leveraging AI and human review—to detect risk, trigger re-verification, and remove bad actors before they affect customers.
• Technology & innovation: Multimodal systems analyze billions of interconnected signals—from product content to seller behavior and supply chain patterns—to predict and prevent emerging threats in real time.
• Enforcement & accountability: Dedicated teams collaborate with global partners and law enforcement to identify, pursue, and dismantle criminal networks at their source.
• Consumer protection & education: Amazon partners with organizations worldwide to provide timely, practical guidance that helps consumers avoid scams, counterfeits, and unsafe products.

Implications for brands: Combating fraud is central to Amazon’s push to strengthen trust across its ecosystem. The company says it proactively blocks 99.9% of suspected infringing listings before brands ever report them, which is a clear signal to brands that Amazon is both a reactive partner and can serve as a first line of defense.

Programs like Amazon Transparency—the retailer’s product serialization service that has verified more than 2.7 billion units across 90,000 brands—deepen that relationship by giving brands more confidence that counterfeit goods won’t reach customers and damage their reputation.

At the same time, Amazon’s analysis of roughly 90 million weekly customer interactions creates a constant feedback loop, helping the company quickly identify issues and improve protections in ways that are visible to both shoppers and sellers.

Together, these efforts are meant to build confidence on both sides of the marketplace. Consumers receive assurance that products and reviews are authentic, while brands gain stronger trust that Amazon is actively protecting their intellectual property and customer relationships.

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