T

HEflowerarrangement

was large and gaudy.

“Sorry for your loss,” read

thenoteaccompanying

theblooms.RobHolmes

squintedinsurpriseat

thesender’sname:Ray

We st.

RayWestdidn’texist.Hewasoneofthe

onlinepersonasRobadoptedtohunt

counterfeiters.AndRobhadn’tlostany-

one.Thenotewasa threat.Itwas 2009

andtheRussianmobhadhimintheir

sights.

ThecompanytheAmericanrunswith

hisyoungerbrother,Jason,wasonthe

trailofa hugecounterfeitoperation,an

investigationthatwouldeventuallylead

tothedownfallofa Russian“spam

gang”,a sophisticatedgroupofmob-

stersresponsiblefora slewofwebsites

advertisingfakewatches,handbagsand

accessories,aswellasa thirdofthe

.

Theflowers,whichRoblaterdiscov-

eredhadbeenboughtwithhisown

hackedcreditcard,wereanunmistaka-

blewarning.Buttheinvestigatorwas

hardlyspooked;heappreciatedthethe-

atreofit.

here -

calls,“likesomethingfromTheGodfather.”

Rob,hisbrotherandtheirteamatIP-

Cybercrimespendtheirdaystracking

downknockoffsonline,feedingtheinfor-

mationbacktothename-brandcompa-

nieswhoemploythem– LouisVuitton,

YOU FAKE

IT, WE’LL

FIND YOU!

The man at

the helm of

the first

family of

counterfeit

hunters

taught his

sons all he

knew about

exposing

black-market

knockoffs.

Now they

take down the

w o rl d ’s

biggest

scammers

while dodging

threats from

the Mob

BY AMY RIDOUT

LEFT and ABOVE:

Rob and Jason

spend their days

tracking down online

counterfeiters of

designer bags and

watches – their work

has led to a sinister

brush with the

Russian mafia.

80 | 29 AUGUST 2019 you.co.za