The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is urging auction sites to do more to warn their customers of the risks of software piracy, as the industry body announces the closure of over 18,000 sites.

The BSA has shut down 18,314 auctions globally selling 45,000 items of pirated software - worth a combined value of $22m (£12m).

Neil MacBride, vice president for anti-piracy and general counsel at the BSA, said: “Auction sites must do more to protect consumers - to increase protection for their customers, auction sites should, at the very least, assume responsibility and highlight the risks to customers buying software online.

“Forging close collaborations with the software industry, auction sites could alert software companies of auctions posted and slow the process down by stopping the ‘buy it now function’ - providing more time to monitor and catch pirated software.”

BSA claims its activity around pirated software sold via the internet has increased three fold since 2007, with a heightened focus on cracking down across EMEA.

MacBride said the anonymity of buying over the internet leads to the distorted belief that intellectual property (IP) theft is a victimless crime.

“Whilst many would not dream of shoplifting a music CD or package of software from a store, they are willing to go online to seek out copies of what is clearly illegal software. Ignorance is not an excuse – businesses should be making basic checks to ensure that what they are buying is authentic,” he said.

The BSA has also recently released a report covering the threats of using illegal software downloaded from the internet.