2025 In Review: Global Crackdowns That Demonstrate Why Brands Need to Develop Sophisticated Anti-Counterfeiting Strategies
As the year draws to a close, we want to highlight some stories from around the world that have served as ‘wakeup calls’. We’ve focused previously on some sobering statistics and how international supply chains can be strengthened. But the following crackdowns from 2025 should reinforce the importance to brands of implementing effective anti-counterfeiting measures.
Fake diabetes & slimming pharmaceuticals
This year saw several high-profile seizures of fake pharmaceuticals, emphasising the growing scale and seriousness of the problem.
The US Food & Drugs Administration (FDA) found that counterfeit types of a popular diabetes drug had infiltrated supply chains.
Aside from the obvious dangers to people with diabetes, the drug’s huge popularity as a slimming aid has increased the threat. More possible users means higher potential profits, which makes it more attractive to criminal counterfeiters looking to exploit the market. The items were labelled incorrectly, with FDA guidance advising patients, retailers and healthcare professionals to check products carefully. But reliance on spotting small details is risky, especially in a sector where the stakes are so high.
Fashion fraud
Fakery in fashion is far more familiar to consumers – and is less likely to be the difference between life and death at point-of-sale. But like pharmaceuticals, the sector is home to brands that aren’t doing enough to protect their products, customers and reputation.
And the logos of renowned labels were ‘so meticulously produced that even brand-appointed experts acknowledged their deceptive quality’. But if counterfeiting is now sophisticated enough to fool expert eyes, what can be done to combat it?
A counterfeit Christmas
Just this month, Northern Ireland’s police seized thousands of counterfeit goods, largely intended to be sold as Christmas presents.
The laudable success of ‘Operation Season’s Greetings’ shouldn’t be seen as an indication that seasonal fakery is easily foiled. For every good news story, there are many forged items that make it to market, to exploit desperate shoppers.
Lego, K-Pop Demon Hunter items and Disney merchandise are just some of the fake ‘must-have’ items sold online to unwitting consumers. Criminals know which items will be in great demand and target their efforts accordingly – it’s up to brands to protect their own reputations.
How can brands do better in 2026?
Fakery is far more than a financial issue – there are real-world consequences from a public health and security point-of-view. That’s why forward-thinking brands are embracing proactive protection, rather than remaining reactive. Where traditional measures like holograms and QR codes are too easily replicated, technologies like quantum-based authentication are driving success.
A clear call-to-action
The future of brand protection lies in ‘impossible to fake’ innovation – embedding secure authentication into products and supply chains. We’re helping ensure every item entering the market can be definitively verified, via a simple smartphone interface.
To learn more, or ask questions about better protecting your brand in 2026, please contact us.
