Article Detail

Eamon McNiff and Eric M. Strauss
Counterfeiting has become a $500 billion-a-year criminal industry that permeates everything people carry, wear and even ingest.

"[These are] everyday American products that could be retailed in any store around the United States," Lev Kubiak, director of the Intellectual Property Rights Center in Washington, D.C., told ABC News' "20/20."

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Across the country, police are mobilizing to take down the shadow economy. Two cities on the front line in the war against counterfeit goods are Los Angeles and Phoenix, which both have specially trained police units.

ABC News’ “20/20” recently got unprecedented access with these law enforcement teams as they busted suspects selling everything from fake luxury handbags and jewelry to fake Viagra and fake shampoo.

“Whether that business is a business that’s in a strip mall, or a swap meet, or a guy selling it in the back of his truck -- that point where stolen or counterfeit meets the marketplace is our ultimate goal ... to take the bad guy out,” Sgt. David Lake of the Phoenix Police Department’s Business and Economic Stability Team told “20/20” on the way to a bust.

From fake batteries and fake soap to fake perfume and fake ointment, click through to see some of the counterfeit goods that have been confiscated by police in busts.




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