It’s All Fake!

Por:  Beijing’s Juvenile Behavior / Kekepana.com

You have heard me rant about counterfeit products, but now you can see a marvelous rant by The Credit Blog – perhaps an unlikely source. The image shown is but a portion of a ginormous graphic filled with surprising info about counterfeit goods and how they hurt the rest of us in so many ways. Go see the whole thing here.

China is the world’s biggest offender, supplying two-thirds of a $600 billion a year industry that is growing by 30% a year. (And you wonder why my posts on international corruption are almost always linked to China: they simply cheat more than anyone else.) Looking just at U.S. (not worldwide) seizures of counterfeit goods, nearly $205 million was seized last year with Chinese origins. Next up was free-trade (and apparently laissez faire enforcement) Hong Kong with nearly $27 million. India followed a distant 3rd with a little over $3 million in U.S. seizures.

10% of the world’s drugs are counterfeited, a number that rises to 25% in developing countries. That’s comforting to think about when you are buying drugs online. Fake Viagra made up 57% of all U.S. drug seizures in 2010, which I suppose proves the power of positive thinking (i.e., the placebo effect) among upstanding citizens.

37% of the auto parts sold in India are counterfeits. The Middle East is safer; they only have 20% fakes on their cars and trucks. 36,000 auto fatalities in the United States may have been caused by counterfeit parts.

If the auto parts and the fake drugs don’t get you, China makes enough counterfeit cigarettes to supply every American smoker with 460 packs a year.

There is plenty more, so run, don’t walk.