Passive Components Blog
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • NewsFilter
    • All
    • Aerospace & Defence
    • Antenna
    • Applications
    • Automotive
    • Capacitors
    • Circuit Protection Devices
    • electro-mechanical news
    • Filters
    • Fuses
    • Inductors
    • Industrial
    • Integrated Passives
    • inter-connect news
    • Market & Supply Chain
    • Market Insights
    • Medical
    • Modelling and Simulation
    • New Materials & Supply
    • New Technologies
    • Non-linear Passives
    • Oscillators
    • Passive Sensors News
    • Resistors
    • RF & Microwave
    • Telecommunication
    • Weekly Digest

    TDK Releases 140C Compact Vibration Robust Automotive Aluminum Capacitors

    DigiKey Presents Factory Tomorrow Season 5 Video Series

    Samsung MLCCs Lineup for In-Vehicle Infotainment

    source: Samtec

    Best Practices for Cable Management in High-Speed and High-Density Systems

    Würth Elektronik Unveils Compact Common-Mode Data Lines Chokes

    Bourns Releases TCO 240 Watt USB Mini-Breaker

    Littelfuse Adds 600W Automotive TVS Diodes for High-Energy Transient Protection

    Vishay Releases Harsh Environment Robust DC-Link Film Capacitor

    Bourns Releases Automotive High Creepage and Clearance Transformer

    Trending Tags

    • Ripple Current
    • RF
    • Leakage Current
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
    • Snubber
    • Low ESR
    • Feedthrough
    • Derating
    • Dielectric Constant
    • New Products
    • Market Reports
  • VideoFilter
    • All
    • Antenna videos
    • Capacitor videos
    • Circuit Protection Video
    • Filter videos
    • Fuse videos
    • Inductor videos
    • Inter-Connect Video
    • Non-linear passives videos
    • Oscillator videos
    • Passive sensors videos
    • Resistor videos

    Ripple Steering in Coupled Inductors: SEPIC Case

    SEPIC Converter with Coupled and Uncoupled Inductors

    Coupled Inductors in SEPIC versus Flyback Converters

    Non-Linear MLCC Class II Capacitor Measurements Challenges

    Percolation Phenomenon and Reliability of Molded Power Inductors in DC/DC converters

    Root Causes and Effects of DC Bias and AC in Ceramic Capacitors

    How to Calculate the Output Capacitor for a Switching Power Supply

    Switched Capacitor Converter Explained

    Understanding Inductor Dot Markings and Their Application in LTspice

    Trending Tags

    • Capacitors explained
    • Inductors explained
    • Resistors explained
    • Filters explained
    • Application Video Guidelines
    • EMC
    • New Products
    • Ripple Current
    • Simulation
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
  • Knowledge Blog
  • Suppliers
    • Who is Who
  • Events
  • Home
  • NewsFilter
    • All
    • Aerospace & Defence
    • Antenna
    • Applications
    • Automotive
    • Capacitors
    • Circuit Protection Devices
    • electro-mechanical news
    • Filters
    • Fuses
    • Inductors
    • Industrial
    • Integrated Passives
    • inter-connect news
    • Market & Supply Chain
    • Market Insights
    • Medical
    • Modelling and Simulation
    • New Materials & Supply
    • New Technologies
    • Non-linear Passives
    • Oscillators
    • Passive Sensors News
    • Resistors
    • RF & Microwave
    • Telecommunication
    • Weekly Digest

    TDK Releases 140C Compact Vibration Robust Automotive Aluminum Capacitors

    DigiKey Presents Factory Tomorrow Season 5 Video Series

    Samsung MLCCs Lineup for In-Vehicle Infotainment

    source: Samtec

    Best Practices for Cable Management in High-Speed and High-Density Systems

    Würth Elektronik Unveils Compact Common-Mode Data Lines Chokes

    Bourns Releases TCO 240 Watt USB Mini-Breaker

    Littelfuse Adds 600W Automotive TVS Diodes for High-Energy Transient Protection

    Vishay Releases Harsh Environment Robust DC-Link Film Capacitor

    Bourns Releases Automotive High Creepage and Clearance Transformer

    Trending Tags

    • Ripple Current
    • RF
    • Leakage Current
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
    • Snubber
    • Low ESR
    • Feedthrough
    • Derating
    • Dielectric Constant
    • New Products
    • Market Reports
  • VideoFilter
    • All
    • Antenna videos
    • Capacitor videos
    • Circuit Protection Video
    • Filter videos
    • Fuse videos
    • Inductor videos
    • Inter-Connect Video
    • Non-linear passives videos
    • Oscillator videos
    • Passive sensors videos
    • Resistor videos

    Ripple Steering in Coupled Inductors: SEPIC Case

    SEPIC Converter with Coupled and Uncoupled Inductors

    Coupled Inductors in SEPIC versus Flyback Converters

    Non-Linear MLCC Class II Capacitor Measurements Challenges

    Percolation Phenomenon and Reliability of Molded Power Inductors in DC/DC converters

    Root Causes and Effects of DC Bias and AC in Ceramic Capacitors

    How to Calculate the Output Capacitor for a Switching Power Supply

    Switched Capacitor Converter Explained

    Understanding Inductor Dot Markings and Their Application in LTspice

    Trending Tags

    • Capacitors explained
    • Inductors explained
    • Resistors explained
    • Filters explained
    • Application Video Guidelines
    • EMC
    • New Products
    • Ripple Current
    • Simulation
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
  • Knowledge Blog
  • Suppliers
    • Who is Who
  • Events
No Result
View All Result
Passive Components Blog
No Result
View All Result

Component Shortages Exacerbate Counterfeit Worries

5.6.2018
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A

Source: EBN news

Component shortages are keeping engineers and supply chain professionals alike up at night. Further, the desperation to keep the flow of supply moving, many organizations are tempted to go to alternate, unauthorized sources. Although understandable, it may exacerbate the already real problem of counterfeit parts.  

RelatedPosts

TDK Releases 140C Compact Vibration Robust Automotive Aluminum Capacitors

DigiKey Presents Factory Tomorrow Season 5 Video Series

Samsung MLCCs Lineup for In-Vehicle Infotainment

“There’s a misconception is that counterfeiting is just semiconductors and only obsolete products,” Robin Gray, chief counsel of the ECIA. “There’s opportunity in those areas but the other place where opportunity arises sis when supply gets limited and lead times go out. People are desperate and, rather than risk a shutdown, they will risk getting it from a source they don’t know is authorized. Scarcity of supply is a good a reason as any for counterfeiters to flourish.”

The Electronic Component Industry Association (ECIA) has been tracking component shortages and reports that many passives, including multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs), as well as certain semiconductors are plagued by scarcity.  “Long lead times and allocation conditions are expected to continue throughout most of 2018,” warned Gray.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has expressed concern about the issue of counterfeiting in a recent grant proposal saying:

The threat to United States interests from IP theft has evolved. The increasing perpetration of illegal and damaging acts of IP theft not only costs the U.S. economy tens of billions of dollars per year, but it also deprives individuals of their livelihoods, and poses a public safety and health threat. Counterfeit goods traditionally were limited to luxury goods such as handbags and watches. However, with the advent of new technologies, combined with the high profits and perceived low risk from selling infringing goods, counterfeits have become increasingly more sophisticated and prevalent. Products in every industry—from food to health care products to electronics—now are being counterfeited.
Some industries, including pharmaceuticals, automotive, and electronics, are being hit particularly hard as they turn to Internet-based sources for products, the DoJ added.  The DoJ is working to address the issues both for the end consumer and in the business to business market.

Earlier this year, the DoJ reported that it had charged Marc Heera in Sunrise, FL, with “trafficking in counterfeit electronic engine control devices manufactured and marketed by a Southern California company for use in modified Honda and Acura vehicles,” a report said.  The counterfeit circuit boards were installed in engine control units to boost performance.

Heera pled guilty, admitting that he, starting in 2009, he had reverse-engineered, manufactured, advertised, and sold approximately 86 counterfeit aftermarket devices that generated approximately $58,000 in income.  By comparison, the genuine products were valued at approximately $74,000 retail. He also admitted creating counterfeit packaging, labels, instructions and compact discs for the devices. He was arraigned in March.

Another case surfaced last month, in which the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested the owner of PRB Logics, an Orange County-based seller of electronic components, alleging that he sold counterfeit integrated circuits, some of which could have been used in military applications. On the 30-count indictment, Rogelio Vasquez was alleged to have repainted and remarked old, used and/or discarded integrated circuits from Chinese suppliers with counterfeit logos.

The devices were also remarked with fake date codes, lot codes or countries of origin and sold as new parts from a number of manufactures including Xilinx, Analog Devices, and Intel.  Each of the charges of nine counts of wire fraud and 20 counts of trafficking in counterfeit military goods each carry a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. In addition, each count of trafficking of counterfeit goods carries a maximum possible penalty of a decade in prison.

A variety of realities make electronics products, both systems and components, easier to counterfeit.  Especially commoditized and standardized products are more barterable and prone to end up in the gray market, said Kasia Maciola, communications committee chair for the Alliance for Gray Market and Counterfeit Abatement (AGMA).  “Cheap inventory, lack of cross-border regulations, and third-party brokers who operate outside of the authorized channel can all contribute to products being leaked from authorized channels,” she said.

“In addition, e-commerce makes it easy for traders to get in touch and do business,” Maciola added. “From a logistics standpoint, products can be moved around with ease. A product might go from say China to the U.S. in one shipment, but that product could move through five or six traders’ hands without those traders having ever physically taken control of the product.”

Maciola offered a handful of suggestions for preventing gray market activity:

  • Establish a strong authorized channel
  • Monitor sales to ensure contract compliance
  • Perform thorough contract compliance reviews
  • Enforce contracts
  • Ensure consistent consequences for non-compliance

The infographic below from the AGMA provides more detail.

featured image source: ECIA

Related

Recent Posts

TDK Releases 140C Compact Vibration Robust Automotive Aluminum Capacitors

5.9.2025
11

DigiKey Presents Factory Tomorrow Season 5 Video Series

4.9.2025
12

Samsung MLCCs Lineup for In-Vehicle Infotainment

4.9.2025
18

Würth Elektronik Unveils Compact Common-Mode Data Lines Chokes

3.9.2025
21

Vishay Releases Harsh Environment Robust DC-Link Film Capacitor

2.9.2025
31

Bourns Releases Automotive High Creepage and Clearance Transformer

1.9.2025
26

Bourns Unveils Metal Powder Core High Current Low DCR Shielded Power Inductor

29.8.2025
27

Influence of Tantalum Capacitor Pellets Size on Stability During Oxide Film Formation

29.8.2025
34

Modelithics Release Discrete Components Optimization Article for RF/Microwave Designers

28.8.2025
13

Samsung Extends Capacitance of MLCC 0805 X7T 250V to 100nF

28.8.2025
33

Upcoming Events

Sep 16
17:00 - 18:00 CEST

EMI Shielding Challenges

Sep 22
September 22 @ 13:00 - September 25 @ 15:15 EDT

Pre Cap Visual Inspection per Mil-Std-883 (TM 2017)

Sep 30
September 30 @ 12:00 - October 2 @ 14:00 EDT

MIL-Std-883 TM 2010

Oct 17
12:00 - 14:00 EDT

External Visual Inspection per MIL-STD-883 TM 2009

Oct 20
October 20 - October 23

Digital WE Days 2025 – Virtual Conference

View Calendar

Popular Posts

  • Buck Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Boost Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Flyback Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • LLC Resonant Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • What is a Dielectric Constant and DF of Plastic Materials?

    4 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 0
  • Dual Active Bridge (DAB) Topology Explained

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Ripple Current and its Effects on the Performance of Capacitors

    3 shares
    Share 3 Tweet 0
  • How to Design an Inductor

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Core Materials, Permeability and Their Losses

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • SEPIC Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter Subscription

 

Passive Components Blog

© EPCI - Leading Passive Components Educational and Information Site

  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • EPCI Membership & Advertisement
  • About

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Knowledge Blog
  • Premium Suppliers

© EPCI - Leading Passive Components Educational and Information Site

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Go to mobile version