Tiny US surveillance firm accused of rebranding Dahua for local sales

The U.S. government has charged a New Jersey company with supplying local agencies with Chinese AI surveillance cameras that are banned in the country, according to reports.

A pair of news publications, Court Watch and 404 Media, say they collaborated to report on illegal sales of rebranded Dahua products.

They have alleged that New Jersey firm Packetalk tricked state and local agencies to spend $35 million on the cameras. Packetalk is said to have helped government officials use federal Covid recovery funds to pay for rebranded equipment valued at $15 million.

Dahua in 2019 found its products on a list of banned Chinese surveillance equipment because the systems reportedly have played a major role in the rounding up and imprisoning of whole populations of Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group in the nation.

Washington subsequently warned that Dahua systems could compromise national security. Some accuse Dahua’s products of aiding Russia in its invasion in Ukraine.

Company executives have denied wrongdoing, but have admitted marketing ethnicity recognition based on facial analysis of biometric data. Dahua isn’t named in the complaint.

Court Watch says a federal criminal complaint charges Packetalk CEO Tamer Zakhary with three counts of wire fraud and one count of false statements related to sales pitches and consultations that hid the true nature of the systems.

In some cases, Dahua logos on cameras were covered with those of Packetalk, and their color was changed. The cameras support facial recognition, including with Dahua software, but Zakhary says only Packetalk’s software was running on the cameras sold in the U.S. The rebranded Dahua cameras were marketed as being capable of license plate recognition.

The article quotes email exchanges between Zakhary and Dahua in which Zakhary appears to be trying to get the systems for a discount due to their being banned. One official appears to be saying the federal ban makes importing them illegal.

Eventually at least a subset of executives allegedly talked about moving system storage to Mexico to hide the fact that Dahua is involved.

Zakhary reportedly is quoted in the complaint talking to FBI agents about how almost anything valuable about the cameras was replaced with domestic alternatives prior to sale.

Packetalk appears to be a small storefront business selling surveillance products to public safety officials.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Dahua Technology  |  ethnicity recognition  |  facial recognition  |  Packetalk  |  video surveillance