- ABC News
- June 6, 2012
AC
From fake versions of the drugs Adderall and Avastin to phony designer watches and wedding dresses, counterfeiting is rising fast and is increasingly becoming a safety concern. U.S. Customs said agents seized 24% more shipments of counterfeit goods in the last fiscal year (ended Sept. 30, 2011) than in its previous year. And 325% more counterfeit goods were confiscated from 2002 to 2012 than in the previous decade. While phony designer purses are declining — and didn't even make Customs' list of top counterfeit products last year — counterfeit pharmaceuticals were up 200% in the 2011 fiscal year. "There's demand, and it's gotten easier and easier to copy (products) and to sell them over the Internet," says Therese Randazzo, intellectual property rights director at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Consumers "need to be familiar with the genuine product, where it's sold and what it looks like." Recent developments: •The Food and Drug Administration in April found counterfeit...