Raids and arrests in China over the past two weeks mark the culmination of a multiyear investigation into a major software counterfeiting syndicate based in the southern China province of Guangdong. The syndicate is allegedly responsible for manufacturing and distributing more than $2 billion worth of counterfeit Microsoft® software. The investigation into this syndicate, which is believed to be the largest of its kind in the world, was led by the FBI and China’s Public Security Bureau (PSB). Microsoft Corp., hundreds of Microsoft customers and scores of Microsoft partners also assisted in the investigation.

These raids and arrests by the PSB, drawing on information provided by the FBI Los Angeles and Microsoft, targeted sources behind the illegal commercial production of Microsoft software, software components and certificates of authenticity. Law enforcement authorities and forensic specialists identified numerous replication plant lines that were involved in the CD production and were the source of counterfeit Microsoft products that had been supplied and sold to business customers and consumers around the world. The counterfeit software, found in 27 countries and on five continents, contained fake versions of 13 of Microsoft’s most popular products — including Windows Vista®, the 2007 Microsoft Office release, Microsoft Office 2003, Windows® XP and Windows Server®. The counterfeits were produced in at least eight languages: Croatian, Dutch, English, German, Italian, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Spanish.