ENFORCEMENT
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Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator<br />
One technical investigation administered by<br />
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) subjected 400 counterfeit<br />
mobile phone adapters to safety testing, and the<br />
results were literally shocking. 83 The overall failure rate<br />
exceeded 99 percent, and the counterfeit adapters were<br />
found to present significant fire and shock hazards. 84<br />
Indeed, 22 samples were immediately damaged during<br />
the tests, and 12 additional samples were found to be<br />
so poorly designed and constructed that they presented<br />
a risk of lethal electrocution to the user. 85<br />
This fast-growing criminal trade in counterfeit<br />
electronic components has resulted in millions of<br />
counterfeit electrical products entering supply chains<br />
the world over, including recent examples of: circuit<br />
breakers that did not trip when overloaded; extension<br />
cords with undersized wiring that overheated; batteries<br />
and chargers without a safety device in the circuitry<br />
to prevent overcharging; holiday lights that posed<br />
fire hazards; small appliances that lacked ground-fault<br />
circuit interrupters that protect users against electrical<br />
shock; and ineffective surge protectors. 86<br />
The diverse avenues through which counterfeit<br />
electronics can reach consumers is particularly worrisome.<br />
Sometimes, a counterfeit reaches the consumer in<br />
the form of a complete counterfeit product, while<br />
other times they enter the supply chain as fraudulent<br />
component parts that are inadvertently incorporated into<br />
legitimate goods. 87 For example, as of June 2016, CBP<br />
had facilitated the seizure of over 100,000 hoverboards,<br />
valued at $45 million, following reports of fires caused by<br />
substandard and counterfeit lithium ion batteries used to<br />
power the hoverboards (FIG. 23). 88<br />
FIG. 23: Overheated Counterfeit Hover Board.<br />
Manufacturers of counterfeit electrical products<br />
have their sights set on the attractive U.S. market. As<br />
an example of the scale of the issue, a single joint<br />
operation between Chinese and U.S. customs offices<br />
during a one-month period resulted in the seizure<br />
of a quarter of a million counterfeit electronics,<br />
including globally known legitimate brands. 89<br />
Criminal enterprises exploit these and other popular,<br />
legitimate brands to further their illicit enterprises.<br />
Counterfeiters are becoming sufficiently sophisticated<br />
that even complex technologies are successfully<br />
manufactured, falsely branded, and sold into the<br />
U.S. supply chain.<br />
Example: Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals.<br />
Among all counterfeit goods, counterfeit<br />
pharmaceuticals pose one of the most serious and<br />
pervasive health and safety threats. As noted by The<br />
Economist, “[s]alesmen have peddled worthless cures<br />
for millennia. But the 21st century is turning into a<br />
golden age for bad drugs.... For criminals, fake pharma<br />
is lucrative and the penalties are usually low. Indeed,<br />
the drug supply-chain is a cheat’s paradise.” 90<br />
Counterfeit drugs circumvent all of the standards<br />
and protections built into the regulated closed<br />
system of distribution for genuine pharmaceuticals in<br />
the United States. They may contain too little, too<br />
much, or no active primary ingredients, or various<br />
dangerous contaminants. 91<br />
Counterfeit drugs are not produced under safe<br />
manufacturing conditions, nor are they inspected<br />
by regulatory authorities. Reports confirm that many<br />
counterfeit drugs include ingredients that are toxic<br />
to patients and processed under poorly controlled<br />
and unsanitary conditions. 92 Organizations and<br />
independent traffickers often acquire counterfeit<br />
oxycodone and other pharmaceutical drugs through<br />
the darkweb. Consequently, these drugs resemble<br />
actual pharmaceutical drugs including the marking on<br />
the pills. However, lab results often determine these<br />
purported pharmaceutical drugs contain other illicit<br />
drugs such as heroin.<br />
SECTION 1<br />
Source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission<br />
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