Everyone loves a deal, but sometimes those deals come at a very high cost. Bargain hunters looking to save on high-priced brands can be easily sucked into buying counterfeit goods but today, luxury items aren’t the only fakes on the market. In the online, global economy, counterfeiting is highly organized, industrial in scale, and touches almost any product you can imagine. There are counterfeit car parts, electronics, alcohol, toys, and prescription drugs, so you’re not just getting ripped off anymore; products like these can cause real damage, injury and even death. What’s more, counterfeiting revenue often supports organized crime operations around the world.
In this episode, we’re looking at the multi-layered world of counterfeiting; a financial crime worth almost half a trillion dollars annually. Starting in New York City, exploring the biggest counterfeit raid in history, we’ll jump over to a luxury Palm Beach boutique selling fakes, and then look at the bottomless well of counterfeits sold on the web. We’ll also hear about the massive Bogus Bazaar scam, and how counterfeiting is connected to identity theft.
This is the story of vast counterfeiting networks that are increasingly dangerous, incredibly difficult to stop, and fed by an insatiable demand for bargains.