U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Thursday announced it had seized and taken offline the domains of 70 websites the government accuses of selling counterfeit merchandise, including luxuy goods like jewelry and “baby carriers, professional sports jerseys, language and fitness DVD sets.” The websites were seized in Texas, New Jersey, Colorado and Utah, the government reported, though the goods were said to originate from China, according to the AFP.
ICE said that the allegedly criminal websites were also noteworthy because they appeared to consumers as secure, safe websites, sporting the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates that show-up as a green icon in many Web browser address bars, indicating that a website has been verified as safe and sound.
The bust, dubbed “Project Copy Cat,” is a continuation of ICE’s broader effort to crackdown on websites facilitating digital piracy and physical counterfeiting, which began in 2010 and has since seized a total of 839 websites.
