Counterfeit Goods

War on Counterfeit Goods

Fake handbags, watches, shoes and perfumes. The business of Counterfeit Goods is the largest underground industry in the world. Hundreds of billions of dollars are generated while sapping the economy, putting lives in jeopardy, and funding organized crime in the process.

CNBC’s "Crime Inc.: Counterfeit Goods," takes viewers on a rare look inside a global crime spree, where the goods are produced and confiscated in a world of high-risk and high-reward.

Host Carl Quintanilla takes you on raids with the LAPD anti-counterfeiting unit, inspections at ports, and back-room factories where counterfeits are produced. Meet a company whose whole brand was copied, and the story of a defense contractor who counterfeit defense parts that found their way into weapons depots in Iraq.

At around 7% of all global trade, Counterfeit Goods are a big business with low overhead. It makes too much money to go away any time soon.

Program Highlights

  • Counterfeit goods generate hundreds of billions of dollars in sales each year, making up about 7 percent of all global trade.At US ports alone, counterfeit products seized in 2009 had an estimated street value of more than $260 million. Authorities are unsure just how many counterfeit goods enter the United States each year, but one thing is certain: Counterfeiting saps economies, puts lives in jeopardy and funds organized crime around the globe.So which counterfeit goods are seized most often?

    Counterfeit goods generate hundreds of billions of dollars in sales each year, making up about 7 percent of all global trade.

  • counterfeit_radio_154X116.jpg

    Counterfeiters have created an international, multi-billion-dollar industry by making cheap imitations of designer goods and selling them for a fraction of the price.

Related Articles

  • Genuine and counterfeit Viagra displayed at The Counterfeit Museum in Paris, France.

    The trend of counterfeiting goes far beyond fake purses and watches and includes consumer products like baby formula and prescription medicine and  industrial products like military components.

  • CrimeInc_bags_200.jpg

    The notion that it is a victimless crime is patently false. Counterfeit products victimize almost everyone they encounter, from the assembly line to the cash register.

  • CrimeInc_new_balance_200.jpg
    By: Jamie Corsi|CNBC Producer

    Counterfeiting is a multi-billion dollar business infiltrating the United States borders at an alarming rate. Watches, handbags, footwear and even medicines are among the top products making up more than $261 million worth of counterfeit products seized at US ports in 2009. And it's a growing problem.

About Counterfeit Goods

  • The largest underground industry in the world. CNBC goes inside a global crime spree putting our economy and jobs at peril…and lives at risk.

Contact Counterfeit Goods

 

  • Carl Quintanilla

    Carl Quintanilla is co-anchor of CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" and "Money Movers"