Everyone underestimates the seriousness of counterfeit and shoddy products. According to the “Industry Weekly” report, the counterfeit semiconductor market has reached 75 billion US dollars, and according to statistics, about 169 billion US dollars of counterfeit components have flooded into the market. Meanwhile, the U.S. government seized $123.892 billion worth of counterfeit electronics in 2016.
In the electronic component market, imitations, refurbished products, and bad products are collectively referred to as non-genuine products. Today, in the face of global capacity shortages, these non-genuine products have become more and more rampant. As the lead time of many ICs is extended to 8 weeks, or even more than 12 weeks, more and more people go to independent distributors, roasted seeds and nuts, and other various channels to adjust the goods, which also makes the penetration of non-genuine electronic components The rate has increased greatly, and many people have suffered from it.
Industry analyst Steven Jeter, the founder of SIA ACC Europe, said at a recent webinar, “SiliconExpert Market Insights: Counterfeit Risk & Mitigation Thought Leaders Panel”: “No one is immune, sooner or later you will. Affected. From a component manufacturer’s perspective, the number of counterfeit products reported in 2018 was three times higher than in 2017. And solving this problem is not easy.”
The breadth of the problem can be traced back to the many ways in which counterfeiting occurs. A counterfeit device can be defined as “a product produced or sold in violation of international property rights, copyright or trademark laws; a misrepresentation in violation of intellectual property or other property rights laws; an electronic device whose material, performance, or characteristics have been intentionally misrepresented by a supplier, distributor, or manufacturer. Components. BasicalCounterfeitly, counterfeit components are products that you received incorrectly instead of what you expected. The problem of counterfeit and substandard products affects all walks of life, from commercial to military verticals, from passive to semiconductors of various components. All products at risk of discontinuation or distribution are at risk of counterfeiting.
One might think that the highest-priced devices are the most profitable targets for criminals, but counterfeiting is changing with market demand. “
Reducing and controlling the flow of counterfeit components to the market requires an industry-wide effort, a goal that has so far been elusive. There are a lot of people doing a good job of policing, and likewise, everyone should play a role in reducing and controlling counterfeit components.
How to identify counterfeit components:
- Unauthorized reproductions, such as empty packages without dies;
- Products that do not meet the original component manufacturer (OCM) design, model, and performance standards;
- Not manufactured by OCM, or manufactured by unauthorized contractors;
- Not conforming to specifications, defective, or selling used OCM products as “new” or available products, that is, refurbished;
- Provide incorrect markings and documents, such as deliberately marking speed grades and temperature grades, so that users can use consumer-grade chips for industrial grades and increase prices.
Industry groups such as the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), ERAI, the Government Industrial Data Exchange Programme (GIDEP), and the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) are doing what they can to police or track counterfeit components. For example, SIA trains customs and border protection officers to identify counterfeit components. However, these efforts rely on the willingness of OEMs, CMs, distributors, component manufacturers, and other private organizations to cooperate and report problems as they become apparent.
In addition, collaboration across geographies and policing organizations is required to make changes. Improving international communication and data exchange is critical, and extensive data exchange is required to create a successful business.
According to statistics, hundreds of buyers of components have been defrauded by fraudulent websites. This message is a warning to any organization involved in the purchase of electrical, electronic, and electromechanical (EEE) parts and/or materials. How identify scam companies and bad companies has also become a problem that buyers need to pay attention to. And what are the characteristics of these scam companies and bad companies that also need to be understood by buyers?
How to identify scammers and bad companies:
- Check the domain name age through the website. The longer the domain name is, the more reliable the company is, and the screenshot of our domain name age is attached.
- Check the company’s strengths through ZoomInfo, with a screenshot of our company’s strengths.
3. By checking that the company has multiple certifications, some companies have a certification icon but there is no corresponding qualification report after clicking on the picture, you should treat it with caution.
4. Identify good and bad suppliers through customer reviews.
5. Judging by the richness of the content of the official website, the templated official website may be at risk of fraud. Most of them register multiple domain names for a single company, and the templated page commits fraud. You may find that you cannot get any feedback from the company after transferring money. Specifically, you can look at Erai’s page to identify which homogenized websites.
Most scam companies and bad companies have the following characteristics:
- These sites only accept prepayment. Once payment is made, communications cease, and the goods are never delivered. Do not make advance wire transfers to organizations that refuse to use alternative payment methods such as credit card, PayPal, or escrow, or that refuse to provide verifiable trade references.
- The owners of these sites buy Google ads. If you use Google to search for a part number, there is a good chance that scam sites will appear on page 1 or 2 of your Google search results.
- These sites falsely claim to be authorized resellers of major semiconductor brands.
- These sites falsely claim to be members of ECIA.
- The sites speak almost the same language and in some cases are mirror copies of each other.
- Obsolete and hard-to-find parts are identified as “stock” at below-market prices.
No one buys a non-genuine product voluntarily, many times it is because the purchaser/engineer unknowingly purchases the non-genuine product. They go to some non-authorized distributors to buy products that are in short supply, or for low prices, or to buy expired products.
As for the procurement behavior of devices in short supply and urgent orders that need to be transferred from the gray market, for such problems, it is best to work closely with your authorized agent to predict your market demand to ensure timely supply of devices.
These scam companies and those who sell fake and shoddy products are catching some buyers who are in desperate need of supplies, want to buy products at low prices, or buy some uncommon parts, and so on. Take the opportunity to sell counterfeit products or defraud buyers of their money. Good practice includes purchasing products only from authorized channels, which is the best way to reduce the risk of counterfeiting. Buying products on legitimate websites is the best way to reduce scams. “Purchasing through e-commerce portals increases the risk of encountering illegal products or devices,” said David Isaacs, SIA’s vice president of government affairs.
Buyers need to go to the official website and purchase parts that contain formal certification. Ironically, the primary goal of purchasing is to save costs, and it is this pressure that makes it tempting to look for alternative sources. “Companies will encourage procurement staff to buy at the lowest possible cost, and counterfeit products are cheaper. Procurement incentives are the biggest difficulty in deterring counterfeit products. However, the cost can be high. Even if the components work properly at first, their use The life cycle may also be shorter, which affects the later functionality of the product, which ultimately damages the brand and reduces customer satisfaction.
Don’t lose the big because of the small, so please go to the official website to buy parts. The purchased parts must contain multiple certifications to ensure that the parts are not fake and shoddy products.
