back to article London cops bust fake Cisco hardware chain

City of London cops today confirmed they have confiscated hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of counterfeit Cisco networking gear. Officers from the Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) raided a premises in Herne Bay, Kent, on 25 July and discovered more than 1,000 counterfeit items of networking kit. Several …

  1. Your alien overlord - fear me

    So, following police advice, my fake Cisco kit is now only 15% less than legit kit *and* I'll print off a support contract (for a fee of course) which will be as useful as well, a paper umbrella in a storm. Thanks for the business improvement ideas coppers !!

  2. GingerOne

    No mention of the safety of this kit (like it's lower quality, more likely to fail/catch fire/explode) so is it stuff made in a legit factory after hours or what?

    1. Anonymous Coward Silver badge
      Joke

      Probably.

      Cisco - it is not alone - has long battled counterfeiters, the problem sometimes stems from midnight runs; at the end of a working day, scammers reset serial numbers and throughout the night produce parts or finished systems using the same digits.

      But we all know that equipment produced in the same factory by the same people won't be of the same standard as the stuff that is official.

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        "But we all know that equipment produced in the same factory by the same people won't be of the same standard as the stuff that is official."

        Maybe it won't have the NSA back doors installed.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Maybe it won't have the NSA back doors installed.

          So that is what all the fuss is about. We can't have equipment out in the world that doesn't have the back doors installed, the NSA and 5 eyes don't like that.

        2. Rustbucket

          "Maybe it won't have the NSA back doors installed."

          Instead it will have Chinese Government back doors installed, not much of an improvement.

          1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

            "not much of an improvement."

            It depends who you're more worried about.

            Maybe the trick is to place one behind the other so that one blocks other.

        3. phuzz Silver badge

          "Maybe it won't have the NSA back doors installed."

          IIRC the NSA were intercepting Cisco gear as it was being shipped to customers, in order to install their backdoors. So picking up a functionally identical pirate piece would probably sidestep that problem.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "But we all know that equipment produced in the same factory by the same people won't be of the same standard as the stuff that is official."

        A few years ago the BBC had a report on Far East fakes of high value fashion items.

        It was said that people started work at a factory producing fakes. If they proved skilled at their job they were transferred to the parallel production line making the genuine product under an outsourcing contract.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          So really none of this is fake hardware. It's all genuine. The only people getting conned are Cisco. They've effectively cut Cisco out the loop!

  3. HmmmYes

    Oh for the good old days of high quality, fake Cisco kit *cough* Huawei *cough* finest Chinesium

  4. Jonathan 27

    Gee maybe Cisco should stop outsourcing their hardware to such unscrupulous factories. They're the architect of their own destruction.

    1. Paul

      maybe if they hadn't closed the factories in Europe and the US, those countries would have more skilled workers and more money to buy their kit?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Next police auction expected to be busy.

  6. J. R. Hartley

    Nortel

    I still believe.

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