The Enormous Problem Of Fraudulent Goods

Over 7% of world trade involves counterfeit goods.  From medicine to food, to clothing and toys, electronics, car and airplane parts, records and fine wine, everything is being knocked off!  In fact, the sale of fraudulent goods has grown 10,000%  in the past two decades.  (that's a conservative estimate.  The consequences are both economic and humanitarian.  For example, Pfizer has more than 20 products that they know have been knocked off.  Viagra, Lipitor, Plavix and Tamiflu are just some of them.  Imagine what this does to the bottom line of this public company.  The other thing is that over 700,000 people die each year from knock off drugs, mostly in underdeveloped countries.

In the U.S in 2007,  the University of North Carolina found that 77% of the fish sold as red snapper was actually tilapia, a less expensive fish.  Olive oil is another product that is often counterfeit.  Either the olive oil sold is not extra virgin, or is mixed with a cheaper oil, like soybean oil.

Clothing by well know companies like Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors, Guess, etc are sold all over the world.  Some knock offs are so good you can barely tell them from the real thing, others are not so good and will probably fall apart in weeks.  Who hasn't bought a Rolex watch from a street vendor, or a Louis Vuitton handbag?  This effects the bottom line of these companies.  It's a terrible thing, and it doesn't look like things will change any time soon,.

On my recent Crystal Cruise, we had a speaker talking about fraud.  He said you should never buy drugs on line, even from Canada.  You just don't know what you're getting.  The highest concentration of illegally produced goods come from China.  That's another reason not to buy goods produced in China.  You really don't know what you're getting.

Retail packaging is sometimes changed slightly, to make you think you are buying a name brand.  Go into Dollar Tree or a similar type store and see how things like Windex, Ajax, Clorox, and other products have packaging that looks similar to the real thing, but aren't.  You will know they're not the real deal as soon as you use the product.

Some fraudulent products are controlled by organized crime, others are just small time entrepreneurs with no scruples.  Just beware.  Anything you purchase is possibly not the real deal.  This includes expensive electronic products, including Apple.  You've got to be careful, and a little bit lucky.