Vetric finds 150 TikTok counterfeit rings targeting luxury

Vetric has identified 150 organised counterfeit networks on TikTok targeting major luxury brands. The research was based on an analysis of about 135 million TikTok videos.

Over two weeks, Vetric confirmed 4,904 counterfeit videos that attracted more than 2.2 million views. The brands named in the research were Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Dior, Burberry, Fendi, Celine, Cartier, Christian Louboutin and Dolce & Gabbana.

The findings suggest a market driven less by isolated traders than by coordinated groups using repeated patterns across accounts. One network Vetric tracked used 233 disposable accounts linked to five shared phone numbers, while another factory-linked ring sold copies of products from five luxury houses at the same time.

According to the research, operators structure their activity to limit the effect of account removals. By spreading posts across large numbers of short-lived accounts, sellers can keep advertising goods even after individual profiles are taken down.

How sellers hide

Another pattern involved how counterfeit sellers presented products in videos. Many avoided searchable text and instead relied on visual cues or audio references, making detection harder for monitoring systems that depend on keywords or written descriptions.

In one brand dataset examined by Vetric, 504 confirmed counterfeit videos could only be identified through visual or audio analysis. That suggests a significant share of suspect content may not be captured by conventional text-led monitoring tools.

The research also found that sellers routinely moved transactions away from TikTok. This puts purchases outside the platform's buyer safeguards and reduces visibility for both TikTok and the brands being copied.

That focus on off-platform conversion is central to how these networks operate. Videos serve as the initial point of contact, while payment and fulfilment move into channels that are harder for brands and platforms to track.

Multi-brand networks

One of the more striking elements of the analysis was the overlap between brands targeted by the same operators. Rather than specialising in one label, some groups appeared to run storefronts and account networks marketing counterfeit goods across several luxury names at once.

That structure matters for enforcement because it suggests common infrastructure sits behind a broad range of counterfeit listings. If multiple brands face the same network, action focused on one video or one account may do little to disrupt the wider operation.

Vetric, which analyses public and social data, argued that this shared infrastructure is the real point of weakness for counterfeit networks. The trade is increasingly organised around repeatable systems for account creation, contact management and customer diversion rather than single opportunistic listings, it said.

Amit Shuster, Vice President of Product at Vetric, described the scale of the activity in direct terms. "Our research shows the threat is not individual sellers photographing knock-off bags," he said.

"It is industrial, multi-tier infrastructure, comprising factory operators running fleets of disposable TikTok accounts tied to shared contact numbers, cross-brand aggregator storefronts that survive every account takedown and an off-platform conversion funnel that keeps every transaction outside TikTok's visibility."

Limits of takedowns

The findings add to wider questions about how social media platforms and brands police illicit trade online. Account removals remain one of the most visible responses, but the research suggests they may address symptoms rather than the underlying systems that support repeat sellers.

Luxury groups have long faced counterfeit listings on marketplaces, social platforms and messaging services. What stands out here is the scale of the video analysis and the claim that some sellers are now designing posts specifically to avoid text-based detection.

That shift reflects the growing importance of short-form video in online commerce and discovery. For counterfeit sellers, the format offers a way to show products, signal availability and direct buyers elsewhere without relying on wording that can easily be flagged.

Shuster said this has made older brand-protection methods less effective. "Traditional brand protection has become a whack-a-mole exercise based around removing individual accounts and videos while the infrastructure behind them remains untouched," he said.

"Vetric analyses video and audio content directly, enabling brands to identify counterfeit activity that would otherwise remain hidden. By understanding the infrastructure behind organised counterfeit networks, brands can build a more complete picture of how these operations function and take much more effective action against them."