Counterfeit items

[Stevod]

Caught this on Bret Baier's news program yesterday. The feature was about the boom in counterfeit products of various sorts, but the one that caught my eye was a Streamlight flashlight. Just a brief look, but I thought a heads up might be in order. Just one more thing to be alert for.

[Garand1911]

Counterfeit products is as big as the illegal drug trade, and not many people go to jail for it.
Purses and Shoes are the big products to watch for, also look out for fake "UL" Underwriter Laboratories markings on electric items. Then there is the kids toys made with lead paint.
We can thank CHINA for this.

[Anthracis]

Or airsoft optics people peddle as real on craigslist.

[B Strong]

China has been turning out counterfeit gear for quite some time, Strider, Extrema Ratio and believe it or not, Brend knives.

They're also turning out all sorts of counterfeit London Bridge Trading gear, so if somebody (Especiially on the hated auction site) has anything cheap, beware.

[thomashoward]

or the Mark lV Leupold "type" scope on ebay with a free Leupold lens pen listed in Leupold scopes.

[ronrichards64]

I looked at a fake Marbles Knife , Looked like a Case XX with a swing guard , had the China mark buffed off. Nikon lens caps also were found. Rip off .

[NytWolf]

Counterfeit products is as big as the illegal drug trade, and not many people go to jail for it.
Purses and Shoes are the big products to watch for, also look out for fake "UL" Underwriter Laboratories markings on electric items. Then there is the kids toys made with lead paint.
We can thank CHINA for this.

On the other hand, we can thank our American companies too. Some of them engineer their products here in the States, but ship the plans overseas for production.

[stilly]

It is ONE thing to have things made outside of the states, it is another to NOT know that your stuff is being made and released without any QC and thus, is where the problems begin.

I hunted down a 64GB flash drive last year. I went to Fleabay because I figured that I could get a cheap chinese and it would function fine since 64GB must be around a dime a dozen by now. I had NOT done any research, just started shopping. I purchased a 256GB and then a 512GB usb stick (oddly from the same vendor) and BOTH were fakes. One was a 16GB reformatted to LOOK like a 512GB and the other was a 4GB reformatted... I gave them a piece of my mind, demanded a refund, got my money back, and then turne them in to Fleabay for selling counterfeit. All the time, the seller was telling me that they were just defective. They refused to admit that they were selling counterfeit drives. After doing some research, I discovered that pretty much any drive you purchase that is larger than 64GB is going to be a fake unless you pay about $100 or more AND it comes in a package, not as a stupid looking KEY or keychain or whatever from China. I guess some asshats grab the defectives or the 2nds from the garbage bins and then reformat them with the software and then try to sell them off on ebay. Idiots will buy them, and then leave positive feedback and THEN later on they will plug them in and give them a try. Then they get burned but because they left positive feedback, there is nothing they can do really...

I even found this same practice when purchasing a 64GB Toshiba flash drive. They did a good job faking that. Packaged and everything except for the minor engrish flaws on the package and instructions that were referenced but nonexistent inside the pack, it was formatted as a 64GB but was a 2GB. I saved them all in a box since they do not work, but that is a huge market I guess... Sad. China is a disgusting place and now when I search, I tell fleabay ONLY USA sellers. (which works until those twatheads start buying groups of fake drives from china and then selling them from new york or florida...)

[OldShooter32]

When I worked at the flea market, about twice a year the copyright police would sweep through and confiscate truckloads of purses, Disney clothing and DVDs as well as other clothing that was trademarked, but phony. I would find Gucci purses and open them to see a "Made in China" tag. They would be brought in as generic, then the trademark design added -- usually in LA somewhere -- and the vendors would buy them wholesale from the counterfeiters. They'd get fined all of $100 for selling them, so it didn't really stop them.

[Garand1911]

On the other hand, we can thank our American companies too. Some of them engineer their products here in the States, but ship the plans overseas for production.

YUP, its my belief that the factory that turns out the legit product is also spitting out the fake one too.