Worldwide, one in five mobile phones fake

Nearly one in five mobile phones and a quarter of all consoles that are shipped worldwide are fake.

The trade in counterfeit ICT devices appears far more extensive than that of goods in general, the researchers which, basing on global customs data relates to 2013. Average 6.5 percent of world trade in such products counterfeit copies, so they conclude. In a study presented last year in which all kinds of goods are included, it played in more than 2.5 percent of cases.

As well as batteries for smart phones, chargers and memory cards are increasingly copied by counterfeiters. Especially in China this happens a lot. US companies are the biggest victims in the OECD, because their products are most often reproduced without permission.