Brand Protection Investigations: We Find the People Behind the Product
We identify the people behind counterfeit, stolen, and diverted product, and build the evidence to stop them.
A brand protection investigation identifies the people behind counterfeit, stolen, and diverted versions of your product, and maps the entire network moving them. Software finds the listing. We find the person, the warehouse, and the network behind it, and we build the evidence to shut it down.
Three ways your brand gets hit
Organized Retail Crime
Your product is stolen at scale and resold through online marketplaces. We trace it from the listing back to the boosters, fences, and warehouses behind it.
Explore ORC investigations →Counterfeit Product
Fakes built to look exactly like yours reach your customers through convincing listings. We identify the sellers, importers, and makers, and map the production network.
Explore counterfeit investigations →Diversion & Gray Market
Genuine product leaks out of your authorized channel and undercuts your pricing. We trace it back to the exact distributor who leaked it. When the leak traces to someone inside your own company, legal runs it as an internal investigation under counsel's direction.
Explore diversion investigations →From the listing to the courtroom
Identify
We turn the listings, accounts, and sellers attacking your brand into named people and real businesses.
Map
We build a geographic and network picture of where product is stored, shipped, and sold, and who is connected to whom.
Build evidence
We assemble a documented, court-ready package: link analysis, ownership, transactions, and chain of custody.
Enforce
We support civil action, seller-level marketplace takedowns, and law-enforcement referral.
What lands on your desk
Licensed investigators, not a dashboard
These investigations are delivered by a licensed Florida private investigator with a long record of collaboration with federal agencies, not by an anonymous software dashboard. That accountable, human expertise is the difference between a list of suspect listings and a case you can act on.
Florida is home ground. See our Florida brand protection investigations coverage for Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Fort Lauderdale.
Brand Protection That Keeps Running Every Month
Most brands call us after one bad listing. The brands that stop losing money keep us working. A single counterfeit investigation names the seller and builds the file your counsel enforces from, test buy included. When the problem comes back, the same work runs every month through our anti-counterfeiting program.
We work the marketplaces where fakes move now, including Amazon, Walmart Marketplace, TikTok Shop and Shein and Temu. When the product is genuine but sold outside your channel, a diversion investigation traces it back into your distribution.
Frequently asked questions
What is a brand protection investigation?
How is this different from brand protection software?
What do I actually receive at the end?
Can the evidence be used in court or by law enforcement?
Do you work outside Florida?
How quickly can you start?
Can you really identify who is behind an anonymous online seller?
Do you work with our lawyers and with law enforcement?
What does a brand protection investigation cost?
Your Examiner
Matt Aubin, CDFE, FBCI
Managing Partner, E3 Legacy Intel · FL Licensed Investigator A-1400197
Every matter on this page is worked under a named, licensed examiner. Matt Aubin brings seventeen years in cybercrime and open source intelligence. He is a Certified Digital Forensics Examiner (CDFE), a Florida Board Certified Investigator (FBCI), and a Certified AI Agent Developer, and he has investigated cases jointly with the FBI, the SEC, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Marshals.
His work has been featured on ABC News, Spectrum News, and The Daily Beast, and in a television pilot for Netflix and MAC Pictures as a cybercrime expert. He keynotes nationally and serves on the Board of Directors of the Florida Association of Licensed Investigators (FALI). About Matt Aubin
Related brand protection investigations
Explore the full practice: Organized Retail Crime Investigations, Counterfeit Product Investigations, Product Diversion and Gray Market Investigations, Cyber-Enabled Cargo Theft Investigations, and our plain-language guide, Counterfeit vs Gray Market: What Is the Difference?
Florida coverage, city by city: Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, and Fort Lauderdale. Statewide overview: Florida brand protection investigations.
LET’S TALK
Bring us the problem. We will tell you plainly whether investigation can help.
Fill out this form and set up a discovery call with us. From there we will analyze the issues you are having and determine your intelligence needs. Then we will develop a custom, no-obligation quote for our services, delivered in writing before you commit to anything.
Brands that need this running every month rather than case by case use our brand enforcement program. For the two marketplaces generating the most new complaints, see TikTok Shop counterfeit investigations and Walmart Marketplace counterfeit investigations.
Tell us what happened
A licensed examiner reads every inquiry. You get a written, flat fee quote before any work starts. Or call (877) 732-6648.