Imitation Nation

In this week's Counterfeit News, Imitation Nation talks about a farm in Pennsylvania producing counterfeit meat; a patent infringement lawsuit between two huge players in the pharma space; the DEA takedown of over 200 illegal online pharmacies; and a breakthrough to print QR codes on live bacteria. We also continue our newfound embrace of video, so you can watch the conversation unfold! Check out this week's episode!

In this episode, Imitation Nation talks to Travis Johnson from the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, and he'll tell us exactly what he thinks Congress needs to do this year to help keep Americans safe. This is also our first foray into video podcasting, so you can put names to faces!

In this week's Counterfeit News, Imitation Nation talks about a farm in Pennsylvania producing counterfeit meat; a patent infringement lawsuit between two huge players in the pharma space; the DEA takedown of over 200 illegal online pharmacies; and a breakthrough to print QR codes on live bacteria. Check out this week's episode!

In this episode, Imitation Nation talks to Travis Johnson from the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, and he'll tell us exactly what he thinks Congress needs to do this year to help keep Americans safe.

In this episode we interview our friends at the American Apparel and Footwear Association:

• Jen Hanks, Senior Director, Brand Protection
• Conor O'Brien, Sustainability Product Specialist

Sven and I talk with them about their new report on the hazardous chemicals they found in fake products, and the larger problem of counterfeits that pose a hazard to your health.  Read the report, as well as their research on the entire digital ecology that makes money off counterfeit sold online, the digital devalue chain of counterfeits.

In the first guest episode of Imitation Nation, we welcome Stephan von Schilcher of NovaVision, a second-generation brand protection expert who grew up around holograms, covert inks, and counterfeit detection and made it his career. 

Stephan has worked as a global career spanning woven security labels, RFID deployment, holograms, tamper-evident tape, cargo seals, and online brand protection.  From pallet theft in GPS dead zones to criminals cutting RFID antennas mid-transit, we explore how illicit actors exploit operational blind spots rather than just copying products. Stephan explains why layered security is the only sustainable strategy, and why rotating covert features keeps brands one step ahead.

Most importantly, we dive into diversion. While counterfeits grab headlines, diverted goods quietly erode pricing integrity, safety standards, and brand trust. Expired pharmaceuticals, gray market flips, and redistributed salon-only products may be genuine at origin, but once they leave authorized channels, all bets are off.

Learn more at novavisioninc.com.

In this episode, we cover:

• The Korean Customs Service did a special inspection surge of counterfeit products leading up to America’s Black Friday and China’s Double 11 shopping days. Along with seizing over 600,000 counterfeit items, they did materials analysis on 250 of them, including jewelry that had heavy metals at over 5,000 times the limits for safety. They also found fake Labubu dolls with phthalates, which are carcinogens, at over 300 times the maximum level considered safe.
• Europol has published its new report titled Cheating the Toy World: Operation LUDUS (2020–2025), and the findings are shocking. Over the course of five years, law enforcement across Europe seized nearly 50 million counterfeit and potentially dangerous toys, worth roughly €150 million, during coordinated raids.  Many of those fake toys — from dolls to building bricks and board games — failed basic safety standards, carrying risks like choking, burns, exposure to toxic chemicals, or use of faulty batteries.  Europol says the operation exposes how criminal networks exploit e-commerce, social-media sales, and global shipping to flood markets with unsafe toys — a stark warning for parents and shoppers this festive season.  
• UK Customs Border Force has published a border seizure report for the three years 2021 through 2023, the first report since the UK’s departure from the EU. They said that during that time, they seized over 3 million articles, 95% of which were confirmed counterfeit in 2021 and 89% in 2023. The confirmed counterfeits were all destroyed. In 2023 alone, they seized over 200 million pounds worth of fakes. The trend, they said, is for criminals to ship fewer fakes, but of a higher value. China, Hong Kong, and Turkey are the leading sources of these, in that order. Fake clothing is a consistent highest category of fakes.
• A startup from Fibarcode at University of Michigan has developed a clever new way to weave barcodes directly into fabrics — using invisible photonic fibers that only reveal their unique code under specific wavelengths of light. Backed by a roughly US $1.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the technology aims to tackle a huge problem: right now, less than 15% of the 92 million tonnes of clothing and textiles thrown away each year are recycled — largely because labels wear out or get cut off. By embedding a permanent, hard-to-forge “barcode” into fabric itself — invisible until scanned — Fibarcode hopes to make garments easier to sort, recycle, authenticate, and track. 
• Authorities in Canada are warning about potentially lethal fakes of HVAC coolant. The fake coolant, which contains lethal methyl chloride, is extremely flammable and corrosive. It can react with aluminum in the HVAC system and ignite spontaneously on contact with air. Brief exposure through inhalation can have severe health effects. If you are in the HVAC business and buy coolants like R410A and R134a, please read our alert. In a separate warning from German manufacturer Copeland, they warned about a counterfeit compressor they obtained from a customer who thought they were buying a genuine product. Counterfeit HVAC equipment has also been reported by manufacturers such as Bitzer and Danfoss.
• The DEA announced that in Los Angeles, in October, they seized over one million counterfeit pills made with fentanyl. This is part of a DEA surge around the country in multiple cities. Along with the pills, the LA operation also seized 70 kilograms of fentanyl powder, almost a thousand kilograms of methamphetamine, 149 kilograms of cocaine, three pill presses, 15 firearms, and 28 million dollars of cash. The operation is named Operation Fentanyl Free America.
• Counterfeit money news this week includes incidents in downtown Howell, Michigan. A bakery and a sandwich shop both got a fake hundred, which they didn’t catch until they took it to the bank. The sandwich shop said they specifically used a counterfeit-detecting marker on the hundred, and it passed, so they accepted it.  The customer apparently ordered something small off the menu, got their change, and left without picking up their order.
• And in Joliet Illinois, a police officer was caught using a fake $100 to buy lottery tickets. In  London, Ontario, Canada, local police warned about fake Canadian $50’s in circulation.

This week, the world of counterfeits and illicit trade delivered some wild twists, from fake golf grips and forged marathon bibs to a major policy earthquake out of Europe. Here are our headlines: 

• A Florida man pleaded guilty to trafficking counterfeit golf club grips that copied the Scotty Cameron brand, earning $170K from online sales between 2020–2024 and now facing up to 10 years in prison plus a $2M fine.
• An Inkster, Michigan, man is facing felony charges for allegedly using counterfeit $100 bills to pay for pizzas that he never returned to pick up. 
• A crew from New Jersey allegedly produced 10 fake NYC Marathon bibs by copying and modifying an image posted online. 
• A story in DesignNews highlights how counterfeit lithium-ion batteries lack crucial safety features, dramatically raising the risk of thermal runaway and spontaneous fires.
• Lululemon moves to register the term “Lululemon Dupe,” signaling a proactive strategy to address the exploding dupe economy.
• CRBN warns that fakes of its new pickleball paddles appeared on major marketplaces like Temu, Alibaba, eBay, OfferUp, and Facebook within weeks. 

Plus, a major sentencing in the U.S. pill-press trade and a surprising turn in the Notorious Markets process that puts American platforms under a new kind of spotlight. Let’s get into it.

• The European Commission announced that starting in 2026, it will eliminate the 150-euro customs duty exemption for all e-commerce imports. This closes the loophole that counterfeiters relied on to ship billions of small, low-value parcels into the EU with little scrutiny. Once removed, every parcel can be screened and risk-scored, marking what experts call a turning point for global enforcement. With both the EU and U.S. moving to shut down their de minimis systems, the world’s two largest consumer markets are aligning on a new model that could reshape global e-commerce flows and significantly disrupt illicit trade. 
• Sophie Chen, a saleswoman for a Chinese pill-press manufacturer, was sentenced to 52 months in federal prison. Chen's case is significant because it targets the international sellers of pill presses, not just the drugs themselves, a part of the illicit drug supply chain that often escapes accountability. Her employer and three of her colleagues have now been indicted in a related investigation.
• In a striking development, several major U.S. trade groups urged the U.S. government to add domestic platforms, including Meta, Amazon, and eBay, to the Notorious Markets List, traditionally reserved for the world’s worst counterfeit hotspots. Out of 77 submissions, at least six groups called for their inclusion. The message from brand owners is blunt: that the counterfeit crisis is not just offshore. It is happening at scale on American platforms that also claim to have the most sophisticated technology and resources in the world. If this pushes regulators toward stronger oversight and platform accountability, it could signal a major shift in U.S. illicit-trade policy.