back to article China fingered as counterfeit parts flood tech supply chain

The number of ‘high risk’ suppliers, including some flogging counterfeit products to US government, military and commercial channels has grown by almost two-thirds since 2002, with China pegged as a key player, according to market watcher IHS iSuppli. The firm urged all parts of the supply chain to tighten procurement and …

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  1. Robert E A Harvey

    It ain't easy

    $PREVIOUSEMPLOYER got suckered by fake IGBTs. Their supply chain was unbelievably short: Fab-Warehouse-Factory. 3 steps, including themselves, massively complex 'release record' tracking, numbering, back-checking, supplier visits, external audits. But they still got suckered for $INDUSTRIAL_QUANTITY of Euroes. Police never solved it.

    'twas reckoned the bad guys had to have people on-payroll in all 3 steps to get away with it.

  2. Ashton Black

    Anyone suprised?

    It's the sort of thing one would expect in countries where profit is the only goal.

    1. YARR
      Thumb Down

      Re: Anyone suprised?

      Theoretically yes, but the evidence suggests otherwise. The perpetrators would appear to come from a communist country, and counterfeit components have historically been less of a problem when manufacturing was done in capitalist countries.

  3. Delbert
    Thumb Down

    Is it news

    Eerm not exactly anything new now i it I was conned into buying 'legitimate' fakes in my early years of building PC's. The infamous PCchips company were only too happy to fake clock speeds and caches to sell substandard boards . They escaped the attentions of regulators who by rights should have banned the company from ever trading with the west for such blatent fraud. Seems to me this is merely a continuation of the same business plan.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Does it matter

    What is the problem ?

    Are original parts not made in China anyway ?

    Do the knock-off not work or is it just a pay for patent

    deal ?

    1. Mystic Megabyte
      FAIL

      Re: Does it matter

      Yes it matters if the shackle holding the heavy load over your head suddenly breaks because it's stamped 7 ton but can only hold 2 ton. I know of a purchaser for a fleet of boats who was asked what rating he wanted stamped on the shackles that he was interested in buying from China. He went elsewhere but I fear that many others did not.

      So next time you are driving down the road behind a heavily loaded truck be prepared for the load to fall in your path.

    2. An0n C0w4rd

      Re: Does it matter

      Watch the Air Crash Investigation report on fake spare parts for airplanes (Partnair Flight 394). The accident in question was fatal - 55 people died. A FAA investigation subsequently found fake parts on the B747s that make up the Air Force One fleet.

      Think about the number of critical components in most modern goods - engine management systems in your car, avionics and metal parts in planes you fly on, etc, you should realise just how serious the issue is.

  5. jungle_jim
    Unhappy

    bah!

    I have just come back from a year of doing QA and QC in our hub in Singapore.

    we buy loads of stuff from Singapore and get loads of fakes. The better our QC becomes the better the fakes become.

    All it takes is a quick name change from these companies supplying and you are back to square one.

    9/10 the quality IS substandard.

  6. jungle_jim
    Facepalm

    we buy loads of stuff from china*

    1. Lars Silver badge
      FAIL

      True, but this is about the quality of faked stuff.

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