B R I E F I N G

MAY 2017
KEY points:• This study identified 112
keywords that were used bydealers to avoid detection
by website and government
monitors, with 40 keywords used
for ivory and 15 for rhino horn.
• During 2012 to 2016, 63.2% of
new monthly wildlife productadvertisements were for ivory
products. This was followed byrhino horn products, accountingfor 18.1% of all wildlife
advertisements.
• Overall, new monthly wildlife
product advertisements
decreased between 2012 and2016. By December 2016, thenumber of new monthly wildlife
product advertisements was lessthan 1000.
• Some wildlife product dealers
continue operating, even though
they have been punished bygovernment enforcement
departments and had theiraccounts deleted by social media
operators.
• Through social media channels,
dealers earlier in the trade chain(smugglers, wholesalers andmanufacturers) can more easily
reach end consumers, which
can stimulate the smuggling andconsumption of illegal wildlife
products.
• Social media is the main channel
for illegal wildlife trade online,
but product advertisements on
websites (such as e-commerce
websites) and other public
sources remain important as
platforms for outreach and to
attract new audiences, eventually
to pull interested buyers towards
more private conversations onsocial media.
• In addition to ivory and rhino
horns, the illegal trade of othertypes of wildlife, such as Tiger
parts, Helmeted Hornbill
casques etc. should be given
greater attention by government,
e-commerce companies andconservation NGOs.
• Website operators need toenhance their awareness of
relevant legislation and address
the posting of unverified wildlife
products for sale appropriately
and in a timely manner.

WILDLIFE CYBERCRIME IN CHINA
E-commerce and social media monitoring in 2016
Yu Xiao, Jing Guan and Ling Xu

BACKGROUND
TRAFFIC revealed in 2015 that China’s e-commerce platforms have become major
channels for the sale of illegal wildlife products, with more than half of the trade involving
elephant ivory items (Xiao and Wang, 2015). The 2015 e-commerce monitoring
report attracted widespread attention from Chinese government agencies, as well as
e-commerce and social media companies. E-commerce, which is based on marketingthrough readily accessible internet websites, is far more visible and easier to monitor
than social media platforms that generally operate on an exclusive “invitation only”
basis beyond the view of anyone not part of the immediate group. Consequently, illegal
wildlife trade has come under better control after major e-commerce platforms took
actions to remove endangered species advertisements routinely. However, the trade
has subsequently shifted to more active social media platforms, causing an overall risein online sales of illegal wildlife products (TRAFFIC, 2016). To provide stakeholders
with greater details about illegal wildlife trade via social media channels, TRAFFIC
released a specific monitoring report in November 2015 that assessed observations of
58 social media accounts during May–July 2015 (Guan and Xu, 2015). The findings inthis report suggest that sales of illegal wildlife products were extremely worrying, withivory products alone being offered in over 10 000 online social media postings.
In China, all species protected by international and national law cannot be traded
online, even if some of these products can exceptionally be exceptionally sold legally in
regulated physical markets. To address the new challenges of online wildlife cybercrime,
related laws and regulations were reviewed. China’s revised Wild Animal Protection
Law (“the Law”), which came into effect on 1 January 2017, aims to fill any regulatory
loopholes with respect to wildlife trade online, particularly through Articles 31 and32 which clearly stipulate the prohibition on online advertising in relation to the sale,purchase or utilization of wildlife or prohibited hunting equipment; and the prohibitionon the provision of online trading platforms, exchange markets or other online trading
space for the illegal sale, purchase or utilization of wildlife and products thereof or
prohibited hunting equipment (Xinhuanet, 2016). At the international level, the 17th
meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Tradein Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP17) adopted a resolution
on Combating Wildlife Cybercrime which urged Parties to submit information to the
CITES Secretariat that could improve mechanisms and regulatory measures designed
to crackdown on wildlife cybercrime (CITES, 2016). To address the illegal sale of ivory
products, which accounts for half of the wildlife cybercrime market in China, theGeneral Office of the State Council released a Notice on Phased Suspension of Processing
and Sales of Ivory for Commercial Purposes (GOV.CN, 2016) (“the Notice”) on 29
December 2016, a programmatic plan to terminate all commercial processing andtrade of ivory, strengthen law enforcement, monitoring and advocacy, and eliminate
trading networks including markets on- and off-line. The online illegal ivory trade willbe irrevocably affected by the ivory ban and related announcements.
Two years have passed since TRAFFIC’s previous reports on China’s wildlife
cybercrime. This briefing aims to assess the current situation and new developments on
this important issue. This research is also necessary to determine if there are any new

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TRAFFIC1trends in online illegal wildlife trade. This study is not only a review of the online illegal wildlife trade between
2015 and 2016, but also serves as a benchmark for future evaluations of progress in implementing the Law and
the Notice.

SURVEY METHODOLOGYThis study is based on data collected by TRAFFIC from January 2012 through December 2016 as part of its
programme of monthly e-commerce monitoring for illegal wildlife trade.

Websites, including e-commerce platforms:
TRAFFIC’s methodology was the same as that used in previous e-commerce surveys, which is based on theroutine monitoring of selected Chinese websites by searching keywords for specific illegal wildlife products
and recording the number of new wildlife product advertisements every month; (unless otherwise noted,“advertisements” hereinafter refer to “new wildlife product advertisements” i.e. advertisements which were notpreviously recorded during TRAFFIC’s website-based monitoring). Automated search software was employed
for greater efficiency. The survey records the number of advertisements rather than the number of illegal
products, because it is very difficult to identify the actual number of products being sold through photo images
in the advertisements. The survey workflow also varied depending on the type and underlying processes of eachwebsite:1. Target advertisements were searched automatically by software and then screened manually. Irrelevant
and fake product information was filtered. This approach is applicable to websites offering large volumes(more than 50 advertisements) of illegal trade information.
2. Manual searches were used for websites offering smaller volumes (between 0–50 advertisements) ofillegal trade information.
3. Site-specific manual searches were also used on websites without an internal search engine which could
not be searched automatically.

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The search terms employed covered the most common species in illegal wildlife sales in China, including
products of elephants, rhinos, Tigers, sea turtles, pangolins, leopards, Helmeted Hornbills, Saiga Antelopes
and whales. As of December 2016, the search vocabulary had 112 keywords (including code words) in total,
including 40 for ivory products, 15 for rhino horn, 12 for Tiger, eight for sea turtle, eight for Helmeted Hornbill,seven for pangolin, five for Saiga Antelope, five for whale, three for leopard, and nine for all species in general.

2

The scope and depthof the survey has
continually expanded
through the additionof new websites. The
number of websitesthat are routinely
monitored reached
31 by December
2016. Changes in thenumber of keywords,
websites monitored,
and species overtime are illustrated in
Figure 1.

120
100

8
7

80

8

5

9

15

12

24

20

24

8

9

9

24

24

24

9
8
7
6
5

57

40

37

30

20

81

91

64

5

40

8

7

6

60

0

10

112

4
25

25

31

31

31

3
2
1
0

number of key code words

number of websites

number of species

Figure 1. Change in surveyed species, keywords and number of websites (2012–2016)

The biggest challenge for website monitoring is to judge the authenticity of wildlife products from photos inadvertisements. Although it is very difficult for website visitors to determine whether an advertised product isgenuine only from pictures and simple descriptions online, dealers often try to convince potential buyers that“seeing is believing” by showing detailed product characteristics, e.g. ivory texture in high definition photos
or composition tables of Tiger bone wines, which provide a good basis for TRAFFIC researchers to judge theadvertised products accurately.

Social media survey on ivory
The present research applied the same survey methodology that was used in TRAFFIC’s 2015 report on social
media monitoring. TRAFFIC researchers reviewed all information posted in a 24-hour period on five occasions
during May–July 2016, on the same 58 social media accounts surveyed in 2015. The survey identified valid
ivory product advertisements and recorded all contents including descriptions, number of images and videos,
type of products, and price.
The exchange rate used in this report is USD1 = RMB6.89, as on 14 April 2017.

RESULTS
E-commerce monitoring
The period from October 2014 to December 2016 saw an overall decrease in monthly advertisements.
During the first 14 months, from October 2014 to November 2015, monthly advertisements were above
1500 per month, except in
September 2015 and November
2500
2015. From December
2015 to December 2016,2000
advertisements were usually
1500
around 1000 per month, except
for May 2016 when they rose to1000
1,454 advertisements.
500
0Figure 2. Number of monthly Advertisements(October 2014–December 2016)

4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0

Figure 3. Number of monthly Advertisements (2012–2016)

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Compared with findings inearlier research (Xiao andWang, 2015), although there
was a sustained period from
June 2014 to September
2015 when the number ofadvertisements was above 1500
per month (Figure 3) (possibly
this was because progressively
more new websites were being
monitored and more key terms
were being used for searching),
the average monthly
advertisements in 2015 wasover 1700, which was slightly
more than in 2014 which
averaged 1500 advertisements
per month. The monthly
average declined in 2016 to
1000, only 44.7% of 2012 levels(Figure 3).

3

TRAFFIC also calculated monthly numbers of advertisements for each major wildlife product since 2012. The
statistics show that ivory products have the highest share of advertisements (63.2%), followed by rhino horn
products (18.1%). These two wildlife products represent the most visible endangered species in website-based
wildlife trade, accounting for over 80% of all monthly advertisements. The remaining 20% were split between
Hawksbill Turtle shells (7.7%), hornbill casques (4.7%), Tiger bones (4.0%), Saiga horns (1.6%), pangolinscales, leopard bones and whale products (0.5%, 0.2% and 0.1% respectively).

18.1%

4.0%
7.7%

0.2%
0.1%

4.6%
1.6%
0.8%
0.5%
63.1%
elephantsrhinostigershawksbills

helmeted hornbills

saiga antelopes

pangolins

leopards

whale

Figure 4. Monthly Advertisements by species (2012–2016)

4

Ivory. Ivory products sold through websites are mostly for the purpose of collection, and are usually presented
as “antique ivory” or “old ivory”, for those items carved before The People’s Republic of China was founded
in 1949, compared to “modern ivory” or “new ivory” if processing occurred after that date. The “old ivory"
products were mostly pendants, pieces for functional household goods, purely decorative carvings and somejewellery products. The majority of “modern ivory” products were jewellery, with bracelets, bangles, necklaces
and necklace beads being the mostcommon items. There were few
larger decorative carvings, andpieces for functional household
goods were very rare. Prices1
of ivory products vary hugely
depending on the size and age—e.g. a 4x6x1 cm plate (Figure 5) of“modern ivory (left)” was priced
at RMB570 (USD82.70), while
one (right) of the same size but
carved during the Qing Dynasty
was priced eight times higher at Figure 5. New (left) and old (right) carved ivory products
RMB4900 (USD711.20).

© TRAFFIC

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For better understanding of the traits and features of website-based wildlife cybercrime, TRAFFIC did further
analysis on advertisements concerning ivory and rhino horn products, given their significant trade volumes in
the market.

1

Only a few e-commerce platforms have made price information mandatory in product posting. However, many dealers put “price available upon request”
or fake figures (999999 or 1) in lieu of the real price so it is difficult to analyse price data.

© TRAFFIC

Rhino horn. Rhino horn products advertised through websites were also mainly for collection, except forrhino products sold on pharmaceutical websites as medicinal products, which were not surveyed for thisreport. The captured advertisements were largely for old rhino horn products (pre-1949, as per definition of“old” ivory) and only a small number of advertisements concerned new products. Although a large number ofadvertisements appeared on websites every month, most of them were found to be fake after examinination of
the photos in the advertisements.
Compared to ivory, it is moredifficult for untrained customers
to verify the authenticity of rhino
horn from pictures online, and thehuge price differences have made it
even more challenging for ordinary
consumers to identify whether aproduct is real or a fake. An old
rhino horn product can range inprice from a few thousand yuan toseveral million (USD600–600 000),
while some dealers were charging
RMB600 (USD87.10)/gram for
Figure 6. New (left) and old (right) rhino horn products
new rhino horn products.

A similar pattern in the number of advertisements was evident between 2012 and 2016 for ivory, rhino
horns, and all wildlife products surveyed for this report (Figure 7). There was a dramatic drop in monthly
advertisements for ivory and rhino horn products from the first half of 2012, as a result of a concerted effort
by enforcement agencies and website managers to stamp out illegal wildlife trade through websites. However,a resurgence in advertisements was evident from July 2014 through October 2015, representing a second peaksince TRAFFIC’s monitoring began, although the level of trade was lower than 2012 averages. This second peak
was particularly pronounced for both ivory and rhino horn products (possibly because more new websites werebeing monitored and more key terms were being used for searching).
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0

elephantsrhinostotal

From the latter half of 2012 onwards, monthly advertisements for ivory remained in the range of 400–1400. The
lowest number recorded during this period was 469 in February 2016, while the highest number occurred in
May 2015 with 1351 advertisements.
There were around 500 fewer advertisements for rhino horn compared to ivory each month; the highest
number recorded was 522 in January 2015 and the number of advertisements for rhino horn only exceeded

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Figure 7. New
advertisements forivory, rhino horns andall wildlife products
surveyed, 2012–20165those for ivory in April 2012. It is worth noting that thedecrease over the five month period from October 2015 toMarch 2016 coincided with President Xi Jinping’s visit to
the United States (US) and the subsequent agreement with
President Barack Obama to commit to establishing ivory
trade bans in their respective countries. The agreement
between China and US was zealously reported by the
Chinese media and placed the future of domestic ivory
trade at stake. Even though the initiative was meant for
legal ivory dealers, it nevertheless might have caused online
dealers operating in the “grey area” to exercise caution when
uploading ivory advertisements, while enforcement agencies
continued to adopt stringent measures against online
marketing, including the removal of related information.
The number of advertisements increased again a few months
later, perhaps related to the absence of any specific timetablefrom the government on shutting down the legal ivory
market.

Social media survey
During May to July 2016, five random surveys were conductedon the 58 social media accounts originally surveyed in
TRAFFIC’s previous social media monitoring report, Deadly
messaging (Guan and Xu, 2015), that were still actively
advertising wildlife products. The results of the 2016 survey
concerning illegal ivory trade on social media are presented
in Table 1.

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Survey Results

6

Number of advertisements

Main websites
One antiques trading website
registered in Shanghai caught theattention of TRAFFIC researchers as
the most active online illegal wildlife
trading platform, with monthly
advertisements often accounting for
more than half of those in all productcategories. Statistics show that from2012 to 2016, the website posted a
total of 31 062 new illegal wildlife
advertisements, or 34.5% of all new
postings, ranking the top amongst allother online platforms in the survey.
For this Shanghai-based website’s
2016 postings, ivory items were themost abundant (73.4%), followed byrhino horns (14.4%) and Hawksbill
Turtle shells (5.0%). According
to the product age information
provided (from a sample size of 1199
advertisements), dealers claimed
90.2% of the items on offer were
antiques (processed before 1949),
versus only 9.8% who classified theirproducts as modern.

Number of images & videos

1st survey

146

856

2nd survey

107

517

3rd survey

133

647

4th survey

102

487

5th survey

185

1014

Total

673

3521

2016 average

135

704

2015 average

227

1236

Table 1. Survey findings for ivory advertisements on social media, 2016

The five random surveys in 2016 found 673 ivory advertisements and 3521 images or videos in total. There wasan average of 135 advertisements per day during the 2016 surveys, representing a decrease by 40.6% comparedto the 2015 average of 227 advertisements per day. Likewise, in 2016, images and videos averaged 704, which
was a decrease of 43% compared to the previous year when an average of 1236 images and videos were observed.
The current surveys re-examined social media accounts that were previously identified in the Deadly Messaging
report (Guan and Xu, 2015), in particular the 27 (from the original 58 dealers identified in 2015) that hadremained active in the trade—following the release of the 2015 report, enforcement action took place against 16 of

the dealers who were subsequently
suspended from social media,
while another 15 dealers have now
quit the ivory business. The patternof trade in 2015 and 2016 by theseremaining 27 dealers is presented
in Table 2.

Average number ofadvertisements per day
Average number of images andvideos per day

2015

2016

115

135

596

704

Table 2. Illegal ivory advertisements by 27 active dealers (2015–2016)

Table 2 shows that these remaining 27 accounts were highly active in 2016, with an increase in the average
number of advertisements and images uploaded from 2015 to 2016, by 17% and 18%, respectively, suggestingthese 27 persistent dealers may have accumulated a wider customer network between 2015 and 2016.
Even though local police and social media operators took measures in 2016 to combat online crime, many
dealers have continued to take advantage of the privacy of social media platforms to make illegal wildlife
transactions.
The social media survey approximated the composition of the major types of ivory products sold (Figure 8).
Of particular note is the frequency of advertisements for raw and half-finished products (e.g. tusks), which
accounted for nearly a quarter of the total number of ivory items observed. Generic finished products (bangles,
chopsticks, name seals, beads, etc.) without carving appear most frequently, followed closely by finishedproducts with carving (Buddha statues, carved beads and bangles, carved chopsticks, etc.) as the next mostfrequent (Figure 8).

raw ivory
11%
worked ivory
without carving
40%

semi-worked
ivory
13%

worked ivory
with carving36%

raw ivorysemi-worked ivory

worked ivory with carving

worked ivory without carving

Figure 8. Share of four major types of ivory products traded in social media

The website-based monitoring statistics collected over the past five years reveal significant online trade quantities
of wildlife products, with over 10 000 new advertisements posted every year. Although this is 60% less thanthe 25 000 new advertisements found in 2012 surveys2, there was a resurgence in advertisements during 2015,
when 20 905 new ones were posted, indicating an active online trade through websites in illegal wildlife. At
the same time, the number of seizure cases identified by enforcement authorities was also considerable in2015. Chinese police forces cracked down on several large illegal wildlife trade cases: Beijing Forest Police, forexample, in terms of law enforcement efforts against both online and offline illegal trade in wildlife products,

2

Internal and unpublished TRAFFIC data.

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7

seized 804.4 kg of ivory, 35 bear paws, and Saiga horns, pangolin scales, Narwhal teeth and other products ofprotected wildlife on 21 May 20153. In 2016, the total number of advertisements was significantly less than in2015 (a decrease of 46.5%). However, more than 10 000 advertisements were still recorded during 2016. It is
recognized that these monitoring statistics are based on TRAFFIC’s own small sample size and represent only
a fraction of the total scale of wildlife cybercrime in China. Thus, patterns in the TRAFFIC data should be
regarded as relative indicative measures of the trade over this period, not absolute values in their own right.
TRAFFIC shares its monthly survey results with website operators on a timely basis, and provides technical andinformational support where necessary. Most of the service providers are taking active measures to deal withany information provided on illegal trading activities, ranging from removing advertisements, to prohibiting
users to re-post the information, and even closing the user’s account altogether. For example, at the beginningof 2017, TRAFFIC surveyed the largest online searching platform in China and shared the results with thewebsite operators. By the end of March, a total of 20 forums on that platform were closed, while one became
read-only and four were emptied, and about 70 000 pieces of information that violated the website’s rules orlaws were cleared. Twenty users were charged with serious misconduct and were permanently banned by theservice provider. These measures are very commendable actions and show the proactive stance of China’s service
providers in addressing wildlife crime through the internet within their limited sphere of law enforcement
capabilities. At the same time, it should be acknowledged that these actions fall short of punitive actions suchas arrests and fines or jail for violation of China’s wildlife trade law and ways to ratchet up penalties for illegal
wildlife trading through the internet need to be considered.
Dealers, who are likely to be fully aware of the illegal nature of their online sales or at least violations against
website regulations, tend to respond by merely changing the keywords used in new advertisements to avoid
detection. Some keywords used (such as “jelly” or “bagels”) cannot be filtered because of their common use forother legal products. Some dealers publish only product images, without any descriptions. Webmasters often
find it difficult to deal with illegal wildlife trade information quickly due to a lack of ability to identify products
by images, and the high cost of doing so in terms of labour and time. These obstacles partially explain why there
are still numerous new postings of illegal wildlife products on websites every month.
In addition to ivory and rhino horns, the illegal trade of other types of wildlife cannot be ignored. Informationfor Hawksbill shell products, for instance, can be found on many websites and in several varieties. The situationof the Helmeted Hornbill, which is indigenous to Southeast Asian countries, is unique. The Chinese name forHelmeted Hornbill is Hedinghong. However, illegal trade of Hedinghong in China has not received adequate
attention from the government and law enforcement agencies, while the public is at present unaware of thethreat to this species, nor its legal status and current predicament. In 2017, TRAFFIC plans to strengthen themonitoring of the trade in Hedinghong and related products.

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This survey has also highlighted one Shanghai-based antiques trading website that consistently fails to regulate
site users from posting illegal wildlife products. According to the Wild Animal Protection Law, which came into
effect on 1 January 2017, this website’s management is now in violation of Articles 31 and 32 of this legislation.

8

There is also a tendency to advertise certain wildlife products as “old” pieces, produced before 1949, giving theimpression that the dealers are complying with the law. However, the number of such claims may suggest that
there is a misunderstanding about the need to substantiate such claims concerning antiquity. In fact, antique
wildlife products from legitimate sources can be traded only after the products’ age has been verified by relevant
government authorities, otherwise their sale is illegal. Website operators need to enhance their awareness of
relevant legislation and address the posting of unverified wildlife products for sale appropriately and in a timely
manner.
Results of the 2015 TRAFFIC social media survey and the 2016 survey for this briefing show a common finding
in that the number of illegal ivory products posted on social media platforms is relatively large, and transaction
quantities are therefore thought also to be high. Following actions taken by social media operators, forest police
Forestry police significantly cracked down forest crimes
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-02/17/c_128726660.htm
3and other law enforcement agencies against illegal wildlife traders, 31 of 58 accounts monitored by TRAFFIC in2015 had been removed or prevented from selling illegal wildlife products by the time of the 2016 survey. In July
2016, social media operators declared that they had shut down over 700 accounts, involving more than 300 000
illegal postings, and filed 65 large account cases with the National Forest Police (Tencent, 2016). These actions
have driven some active dealers to create “backup accounts,” and they have encouraged customers to join them
there in case their main accounts are shut down by the authorities and their customer details lost.
Despite social media becoming a major channel for illegal wildlife trade, its private and instant messaging
nature has at the same time limited the audience receiving illegal wildlife information and transactions topeople who have become “friends”, and is therefore not conducive to widespread dissemination of information.
The expectation is that dealers will continue to publish illegal wildlife product advertisements from their own
accounts on public websites, to draw a larger audience, before closing the deal once potential buyers havebecome “friends” on social media. To prevent this, website operators are encouraged to remove such postings
promptly to avoid becoming springboards for illegal wildlife trade.
Nearly a quarter of ivory advertisements found on social media concerned raw materials or half-finishedproducts, which suggests that dealers earlier in the trade chain (smugglers, wholesalers and manufacturers)
can reach end consumers via social media. The likelihood is this will benefit dealers earlier in the trade chain as
higher profits can be yielded with fewer intermediaries, and possibly lowers prices for end consumers (Figure9). The ease of reaching a large audience online and sourcing products from producers seem to have stimulated
both supply and demand, respectively. The convenience of supply channels, low costs and lucrative profits haveattracted many users to become “agents” for illegal wildlife products, forwarding product information to theirown circles of “friends” to attract potential consumers, which further stimulates consumption.

Smugglers

Wholesalers

End
Consumers

Manufactures

Retailers
Any single transaction depends upon a network of delivery, logistics and courier service providers, whichplay an important role linking sellers with buyers. Although the Government of China has already issued
the Regulations on Examination of Mails upon Acceptance, requiring transport service providers to check all
goods adequately before accepting them for transport, and refusing to transport any products that are classified
as prohibited goods, some companies have still to implement this regulation effectively. Many couriers andtransport companies do not have the knowledge to identify and refuse illegal wildlife products for transport.
Given the majority of advertisements are for handicrafts of less than 12 cm in length, and many are smaller than
3 cm, it is very easy for sellers to hide illegal wildlife products, even if the boxes are checked by couriers who
have the required knowledge to identify such items. How to close the illegal wildlife trade chain effectively at
the delivery stage is a pivotal next-step for TRAFFIC’s work to combat wildlife cybercrime.

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Figure 9. The pattern of illegal ivory trade through social media

9

RECOMMENDATIONS

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TRAFFIC is committed to monitoring the illegal wildlife trade through e-commerce and social media, andwork closely with social media operators and law enforcement agencies to combat wildlife cybercrime.

10

1.

Wildlife administrations in China need to strengthen legislation and formulate at the earliest opportunity
enforcement guidelines for the new Wild Animal Protection Law, as well as other laws and regulations,clarifying the responsibilities of websites, social media and transportation enterprises in wildlife protection
and combating illicit wildlife trade.

2.

Internet administrators need to strengthen supervision of websites and e-commerce platforms, to ensurethat they take effective compliance measures and fulfill their legal obligations by timely removal of illegal
wildlife sale information online, while actively co-operating with the police in the investigation andcollection of evidence.

3.

China’s central government needs to empower a joint inter-ministerial meeting to combat wildlife
cybercrime. Related government bodies, especially those overseeing internet and management entities,
should be incentivised to crackdown on wildlife cybercrime.

4.

Given the global reach of the internet, industry-wide exchanges and a policy framework on wildlife
cybercrime should be built by the main internet companies to address the issue comprehensively andeffectively. Wildlife cybercrime reaches across borders, so co-ordinated efforts are needed to simplify andstandardise efforts to monitor the internet.

5.

The internet industry needs to develop and share an implementation-focused guide on controlling andcombating wildlife cybercrime; research measures and techniques to detect, control and combat illegal
wildlife trade; build awareness and capacity of website and social media operators to uncover, control
and combat illegal wildlife trade; and strengthen the collaboration between websites and social media
operators and enforcement agencies.

6.

The internet industry needs to establish an alliance amongst the various e-commerce and social media
companies in China to work against illegal online trade of endangered species. In response to the Advocacy
on Combating against Illegal Wildlife Trade (Forest Police, 2017), jointly issued by Tencent, Baidu andAlibaba, government agencies, internet/social media operators and non-governmental organizations
around the world should aim to nurture a cyber environment to combat wildlife crimes and interdict illegal
trade.

7.

Logistics and courier companies need to improve their inspection and monitoring measures; provide
training to couriers; develop and apply guidelines for the logistics and transportation industry on controllingand combating illegal wildlife trade and transportation; improve awareness of laws and regulations; andbuild capacity for the identification of endangered species and prevent the transport of illegal wildlife
products.

8.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) need to establish a long-term online wildlife trade monitoring
system, with the scope of monitoring being greatly expanded. Current monitoring is focused only on highrisk websites and on flagship species. This needs to be amplified to capture the broader scope of cyberspace.
To be effective at combating wildlife cybercrime in the long run, more advanced internet monitoring tools
need to be adopted, with methods of monitoring modified to meet the changing trends and characteristics
of illegal trade.

9.

Government agencies, NGOs, the private sector, internet providers, e-commerce and social media businesses
need to increase the awareness of online users about the need for wildlife protection, that purchasing illegal
wildlife products over the internet is breaking the law, and about their individual obligations to counteract

illegal wildlife trade. On- and off-line publicity activities would help users to understand better the causal
relationship between such crimes and the threats they pose to the survival of wild species. The aim should
be to influence people to resist the illegal trade of endangered species consciously, change individual
behaviour and sway others in making ethical consumption choices.

REFERENCES
CITES (2016) https://cites.org/eng/node/48498
Forest Police (2017) World Wildlife Day Ceremony Event Held in Nanjing Forest Police College, 2017,
http://www.forestpolice.net/2017/0303/c704a69306/page.htm, in Chinese.
GOV.CN (2016) Notice on Phased Suspension of Processing and Sales of Ivory for Commercial Purposes,
http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2016-12/30/content_5155017.htm, in Chinese.
Guan, J. and Xu, L. (2015). Deadly Messaging: illegal ivory trade in China’s Social Media.
TRAFFIC: November 2015.
Tencent, (2016). Tencent Opens Public Reporting Channel for Illegal Wildlife Trade,
http://life.21cn.com/zaojiao/news/a/2016/0815/11/31426800.shtml, in Chinese.
TRAFFIC (2016) Focus on wildlife cybercrime at CITES
http://www.traffic.org/home/2016/9/27/focus-on-wildlife-cybercrime-at-cites.html
Xiao, Y., Wang, J. (2015). Moving Target: tracking online sales of illegal wildlife products in China. TRAFFIC
Briefing Paper: March 2015.

TRAF FIC BR IEFI NG PAPER

Xinhaunet (2016). Wild Animal Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2016-07/03/c_129110499.htm, in Chinese.

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TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, is the leading non-governmental organization working globally on trade in wild
animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

For further information contact:
TRAFFIC
Headquarters OfficeDavid Attenborough Building
Pembroke Street
Cambridge CB2 3QZ
UK
Telephone: (44) (0) 1223 277427
E-mail: traffic@traffic.org
Website: www.traffic.org
UK Registered Charity No. 1076722,
Registered Limited Company No. 3785518.

This study was supported by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry
for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German
Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building andNuclear Safety (BMUB)

WWF also supported
this study

is a strategic alliance of