Welsh Enterprise Awards 2026/ 18 Security Business of the Year 2026 & Anti-Illicit Trade Excellence Award 2026 Helping its clients to protect their brands and strengthen their futures, WRi Group provides a range of securitybased services to the private and public sectors in both the UK and abroad. Using a focused, intelligence-led approach, the team behind this close-knit business allow leaders and decision makers to better understand the operational strengths and weaknesses of their businesses, and develop robust strategies. CEO Graham Mogg shared more on these UK and global brand protection services. Established in 2011 with the aim of supporting law enforcement agencies and rights owners by helping them to tackle the threat of intellectual property (IP) crime, WRi Group is headquartered in Pontypridd, South Wales. It is a business comprising family and friends, with its three directors being a father, son, and daughter, and the remaining 19 staff all being other family members and close friends. However, this is not to say they lack the experience to do the job, as most have backgrounds in law enforcement or are IP specialists. The services they provide span investigations, brand protection, intelligence management, online monitoring, consultancy, private criminal prosecution, civil recovery, and training. Training is done via the WRi Academy, which offers continuous professional development to law enforcement through investigation training courses. Its curriculum covers a range of modules, allowing students to confidently tackle any form of corporate criminality. “Our Academy has just celebrated its 5th anniversary, and its growth is paramount to the broader work that we do to protect consumers and legitimate businesses.” WRi Group today works with a range of clients, from global brands to UK assay offices, law enforcement, and government departments covering black market illicit trade. Its business with all of these clients is guided by its core values of honesty, integrity, reliability, and the capacity to deliver a first-class service to everyone it works with across both the public and private sectors. Its mission, which involves protecting consumers and legitimate businesses alike by ending counterfeiting and the threat of illicit trade, is an extension of this. What sets WRi Group apart as it delivers these values-led UK and global brand protection services is the fact that it is a small, deeply connected business, with its mission lived by every member of its team on a daily basis. It does not simply provide a service for money like many of its competitors. The company is also proactive in its approach, deploying its team to physical locations, monitoring trends digitally, and investing in new, innovative projects to help it realise its ultimate goal of protecting consumers and businesses from crime. Taking a closer look at the threats that consumers and businesses face in this market, Graham told us: “Our industry sector is broad, however, the clear threat faced by our clients is the proliferation of sales by bad actors on the internet and World Wide Web. The use of social media platforms and influencers to advertise counterfeit and other illicit products is on the increase, encouraging consumers to ‘buy a bargain’, when in fact the goods being sold are illegal, often unsafe, and the profits from the trade used to fund other criminality.” Graham recognises that current challenges with the cost of living leave many consumers feeling as if they have no choice but to seek out cheaper versions of branded goods and other commodities, but his message is that this has a huge impact on legitimate businesses and puts consumers at risk. The changing retail landscape is an example of this, with legitimate businesses struggling to flourish in a world where counterfeit goods are rife. Currently, WRi Group is investing heavily in its efforts to tackle IP crime (luxury goods, electronic products, clothing, footwear, and hallmarking infractions), but it is looking to bring its services to other sectors within the space, including perfumes, cosmetics, automotive, and agriculture. As it looks to expand its provision, WRi Group is benefiting from the government grants, that Wales affords it, which allow it to offer a competitive pricing structure that undercuts several of its competitors across the border. This advantage, combined with the inclusive, honest, trusting, and cooperative internal culture that comes from its status as a family business, is positioning WRi Group favourably for growth – growth grounded in its overarching aim of seeing that brands and agencies are both protected and strengthened in a world where counterfeit goods are no more. Contact: Graham Mogg Company: WRi Group Web Address: https://www.wri-group.com/
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