In an era of unprecedented openness in commerce, travel, communication and finance, illicit trade has reached macroeconomic proportions, with goods being manufactured on one continent, trafficked in another, and sold and consumed on a third. The value of this shadow economy, primarily driven by the sale of counterfeit goods, is estimated at US$650 billion worldwide. Including money laundering, this figure increases to US$2 trillion, compared with a legitimate global trade figure of about US$10 trillion.