4th OECD Task Force meeting on Countering Illicit Trade

18-19 April 2016OECD Conference CentreParis, France

Session 2: Enforcement challenges in countering illicit trade over the internet

Illicit wildlife goods

Steven BroadExecutive Director

Rising Illegal Wildlife Trade

218,155pangolinsinreportedseizuresbetween2000-2012(Backgroundreportonillegaltradeinelephant,rhino,bigcatsandpangolins, 2013,TRAFFIC)

19,000tortoisesandfreshwaterturtlesseizedinThailandbetween2008-2013(SeizuresofTortoisesandFreshwaterTurtlesinThailand 2008-2013, 2014,TRAFFIC)

20,500tonsofabalonepoachedandillegallytradedbetween2004-2014(SouthAfrica’s illicitabalonetrade:Anupdatedoverviewandknowledgegapanalysis, 2014,TRAFFIC)

Beyond the headlines

Trade Evolution

NumberofinternetusersintheworldSource:http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/

(estimateforJuly12016)

Based on previous surveys, TRAFFIC’ Beijing office startedto undertake monthly surveys of selected Chinese-languagewebsites for eight key endangered species in January 2012.

31 Websites:Craigslist Platforms, e.g.

Specialized Collectables Websites, e.g.

Specialized Collectables Forums, e.g.

Online Shopping platforms, e.g.

E-COMMERCE RESEARCH

http://www.traffic.org/home/2015/3/3/traffics-e-commerce-monitoring-reveals-shifting-illegal-wild.html

Key word searching: e.g.ivory

In January2012,threekeywordsfor ivory--“象牙,XY&xiangya”

By June 2015, 22keywords--“Africanmaterials,yellowmaterials,whiteplastic,jelly, etc.”

IncreasingNumbersofKeywordsandWebsites

E-Commerce: monthly monitoring

SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH

Examplesofadvertisementsforillegalwildlifeproductspostedonsocialmediawithinonemonth

Species No. of Ads Species No. of Ads

Elephant (Ivory) 10,650 Leopard 18

Rhino 2,493 Pangolinscale 11

Hornbill 1459 Narwhal 5

Tiger 954 Hippo 3

Walrus 170 Zebra 2

Spermwhale 125 Lion 2

Hawksbill 96 Monkey 1

Bear 61 Orcinus orca 1

Saiga horn 43

http://www.traffic.org/home/2015/11/24/traffic-and-tencent-sign-agreement-to-tackle-illicit-wildlif.html

Adding‘Friends’ Advertising Price

negotiationTransfer/payment Delivery

‘Face-to-face’ scanning;Friend’sintroduction,Chatting groups;WeChat subscription,Websites, etc.

Moments;Subscriptionaccounts;Instantmessaging;Third party Apps, etc.

Using private voicemessages toprevent fromkeyword monitoring andreduce risks.

UsingWeChat paymentinsteadof third partypayment service.

Traders package the parcelby themselves and usefake name and address;Parcel delivered withoutchecking.

Transaction Flow

CHINA: zero tolerance advocacy

Say NO to illegal wildlife trade:

5th July 2013, 15 leading China’s e-commerce companies

3rd March 2015, 17 leading couriercompanies operating in China

CHINA: Monitoring > intervention

NGOs

Forest PoliceWebsites

Numberoftotalillegalwildlife productadvertisementsinmonitoredChinesewebsites(January2012-September2015)

results: trade trend

Dynamicsof weeklyadvertisementsofillegalivorytradepostedby58tradersonasocialmediasite- 2015

15leadinge-commercecompaniespledgedzero-tolerancetowardsillegalonlinetradeinendangeredspecieson5th June2013.

Enforcementandcommunicationsactionspromptedbyinformationfromsocialmediamonitoring

results: Adaptation

• Thevolume,speedandanonymityofonlinecommerce;• Hardtodifferentiateactualoffersfromfraudandfakes

• Frequentlychangingkeywordstoconcealtheidentityoftheactualgoodsonofferandothermeansofconcealment;

• Differencebetweenonlineand‘traditional’enforcementskills;

• Easilytransferredtootherplatforms

Challenges

Socialnetworks

MobileChatting

MessageBoards

Micro-blogging

InstantMassaging

VideoSharing

• Internetandlogisticcompaniesaresensitivetoregulatoryandpublicpressureandreasonablyquicktopledgeaction

• Securitysystems(filtering,blocking)establishedfordifferentillicitgoodsandservicescanbeadapted,butrequireexpertadviceandsupport

• Governmentagenciesarestrugglingtokeepupwithchangesininternetcommerce– needpartnershipwithinternetcompanies

• Internetcompaniescanplayacriticalroleincommunicationsaimedtochangeconsumerbehaviour

• Postalandcouriercompaniesslowertomovefrompledgestoaction–trainingandstrongerinspectionprotocolsneeded

• NGOsareplayingakeyroleinresearchingnewdevelopmentsandmonitoringimpactofgovernmentandbusinessactions

Observations

Session 2: Enforcement challenges in countering illicit trade over the internet

Illicit wildlife goods

Steven BroadExecutive Director