Spot Counterfeit Products

A couple years ago if you heard a Relax After Hearing Stressful News report on counterfeit goods, you probably pictured imitation Rolex watches or chintzy faux-Gucci purses. Now, however, with the proliferation of toxic toothpaste, poisoned pills, and defective extension cords, counterfeit products have become more menacing. While there are some general precautions you can take to Avoid Buying Counterfeit Products the best defense is to be vigilant and to learn how to spot fakes yourself.

Steps

  1. Look out for deals that are too good to be true. Not all fakes sell at lower prices than their genuine counterparts, but an unreal bargain is one of the surest signs of an unreal product. Ask yourself how someone can sell, for example, a brand new $140 tool for $50--chances are it's because it's a fake.
  2. Pay attention to the products you buy. Odds are you purchase many of the same products or brands over and over again. Pay at least a little attention to them and you'll be much better at spotting a counterfeit because you'll have something to compare it to. If you're purchasing a brand that is new to you or a product that you don't frequently buy, compare it to the same product at other stores. You can also compare brands against other brands. For example, if you're not sure about a certain extension cord, compare it to others that are for sale in the same aisle. All brands of extension cord will have a lot of the same information and symbols printed on them or on their packaging, so if one particular brand doesn't, it may be a fake.
  3. Beware products that seem flimsy or are obviously poorly made. Quality control is often absent in counterfeiting operations, so you may be able to spot a counterfeit simply based on its workmanship. Of course, even if it isn't a counterfeit, do you really want a poorly-made product?
  4. Inspect the packaging carefully. Reputable businesses typically take great care in packaging their products. Beware flimsy packaging, packaging with substandard printing or running colors, or packages that appear to have been opened. In addition, take a moment to actually read the package.
    • Spelling or grammatical errors are common on the packaging for counterfeit goods. For example, boxes of counterfeit toothpaste that showed up in U.S. stores in June 2007 had several obvious typos, including "SOUTH AFRLCA" and "Assoxiation."
    • Does the packaging exactly match the product? Some careless counterfeiters will try putting a fake drill, for example, in a box for a saw. It's rarely this obvious — check model numbers on the packaging against the model number of the equipment, and carefully examine tags on clothing.
    • Look out for very plain boxes. Most product labels and boxes these days have a whole host of information printed on them, from bar codes to trademark and patent information to recycling symbols. Counterfeiters often don't want to spend the time to reproduce every detail, so they'll likely leave some of this stuff off.
    • Look for manufacturer contact information. Most reputable companies will provide a phone number or at least an address at which consumers can call them.
  5. Look for a safety certification label. Just about any electrical product, and many other products that could pose some sort of safety risk, will have one or more safety certifications on its label if it's made by a legitimate manufacturer. The UL (Underwriters Laboratory) label is the most common, particularly in the U.S. (the competing ETL mark is also a major certification in the U.S.). In Europe, the CE (the abbreviation doesn't officially stand for anything) marking is required on electrical products, and in Canada the CSA (Canadian Standards Association) mark is common. Look for at least one of these marks on electrical products--there are often several, as well as other minor certifications. Bear in mind, however, that counterfeiters will often include fake marks on their products, so you need to look at them closely. Low quality products that don't claim to be brand-name may also simply use a counterfeit certification mark.
    • Familiarize yourself with how these marks look. Look at products in your house and in stores. The marks for a given certification are not always the same size, but they always carry the same font and design, and they will include a control number for the specific product. Faked marks are usually, but not always, easy to spot. UL requires hologram marks for most products from China and for some products regardless of country of origin; see their website for details.
    • If the certification mark is present only on the packaging, but not on the product itself, there's a good chance the product is fake.
    • Some of these organizations also have online product registries where you can look up a particular product or control number to verify the certification.
  6. Make sure everything that should be there is there. Counterfeit products often don't include supplementary materials such an owner's manual or a product registration card. Sometimes they don't even include all the parts that should come with the product, or some parts will be from a different manufacturer.
  7. Check the manufacturer's website. Many large companies now have information on their websites to alert customers to possible counterfeit products and to help them detect fakes.

Tips

  • China is the source of most counterfeit products. Of course many, many legitimately produced products are also made in China, but a "Made in China" sticker on an already suspicious product is a red flag. You should also be suspicious if no country of origin is listed on either the packaging or the product itself. Counterfeiting rings will sometimes remove a "Made in China" sticker when importing fake products, and producers of counterfeits will sometimes simply leave off the country of origin designation.
  • Be reasonable. Are the dangers of counterfeit products exaggerated? While there's no doubt that counterfeit goods can be dangerous--they've resulted in injuries and deaths throughout the world--it's important to keep in mind that the legitimate manufacturers of products, and the trade groups that represent them, have an incentive to exaggerate the risks in order to prompt government intervention and to frighten people who knowingly buy knockoffs of brand-name goods. The focus on counterfeit goods has led to some fairly irrational actions, such as German authorities' incineration, in 2006, of a million pairs of counterfeit shoes--while millions of people worldwide go without any shoes at all.
  • The quality of counterfeits varies widely. To many people, that's the biggest problem with fakes--you don't know what you're getting. Some people, however, enjoy shopping for bargains on high-quality counterfeits, especially when traveling abroad. If you're so inclined, keep in mind that purchasing counterfeits may be illegal, and importing them into your home country is also very likely against the law.

Warnings

  • When in doubt, spit it out. In the June 2007 counterfeit toothpaste scare, at least one person who became ill because of the product continued to use the product even though they noticed that it tasted awful. If something doesn't seem right, especially in a product that you ingest or apply to your body or one that may pose, for example, a fire risk, stop using it immediately and contact authorities. Even genuine products can be defective or tainted, so don't risk harm by ignoring a potential warning sign.
  • While these steps can help you spot most fakes, some counterfeiters pay a lot of attention to detail, and no set of guidelines can absolutely ensure that you won't purchase a counterfeit product. Conversely, just because a product fails one or two of the above tests doesn't necessarily mean it's counterfeit.

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Sources and Citations

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