Holiday Gift Warning - Counterfeit iPhone Chargers May Kill You
99% of phone iPhone chargers sold online fail UL safety tests.
December 21, 2017 - Los Angeles, CA – Before you give or receive an iPhone® charger, be wary. In addition to explosions, fires and injuries, it may prove to be a deadly gift. Untested, and often visually identical counterfeit iPhone chargers, may injure you, burn down a home or cost your life.
An Underwriters Lab ("UL") test1 of 400 iPhone chargers purchased online revealed some shocking results - 397 failed high voltage tests. Just 3 passed, and twelve were so poorly designed and constructed that they posed a risk of lethal electrocution to the user. Sheryl Aldeguer, 28 was electrocuted by a faulty $4.99 charger in 2014, just after a flight attendant was electrocuted by her faulty third-party iPhone charger.
E-commerce websites including Amazon (AMZN), eBay (EBAY) and Alibaba (BABA) provide an avalanche of counterfeit products including Apple chargers. The Counterfeit Report, a consumer advocate and industry watchdog, purchased dozens of chargers on Amazon, eBay and AliExpress including the counterfeit Apple charger shown below. All were counterfeit. Best advice - buy directly from the Apple® store.
Amazon recently gained the ire of global giant Apple for the sale of counterfeit Apple chargers and other Apple products on its website. Apple Inc. says it has been buying Apple chargers and cables labeled as genuine directly from Amazon, and found nearly 90% of them to be counterfeit. Apple says the chargers and cables were being sold on Amazon as “genuine” Apple products.
Policing counterfeit activity on e-commerce sites is almost impossible, a complaint common with manufacturers. The Counterfeit Report has removed over 22 million counterfeits from e-commerce websites - just a fraction of an inexhaustible supply of fakes destined for unsuspecting consumers.
Could you spot a counterfeit Apple® charger? Look closely and you will see the word “information” spelled incorrectly on this, but not all, counterfeit chargers.
While the chargers may look the same on the outside, they are much different inside and pose a fire threat to users.
View some of the counterfeit Apple trademarked chargers on The Counterfeit Report.com: Apple A1265 Charger Apple A1385 Charger Apple 1401 Charger
Buyers should be very wary of purchasing any trademarked item unless directly from the manufacturer or authorized retailer. Counterfeiters and dishonest sellers are very good at creating visually deceptive products, packaging, holograms, certification labels and documentation that easily deceive consumers.
Companies that facilitate criminal activity and profit from dishonest sales which impact consumer safety, jobs and public trust create a public perception of deception and impunity. However, their reputation damage is only a small part of the problem: the value of counterfeit and pirated goods is forecast to grow to $2.8 trillion, and cost 5.4 million net job losses2 by 2022, while manufacturer's brand integrity is tarnished or destroyed.
Footnote:
1COUNTERFEIT IPHONE ADAPTERS
A UL TECHNICAL INVESTIGATION SHOWS A 99 PERCENT FAILURE RATE
Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
2 THE ECONOMIC COSTS OF COUNTERFEITING AND PIRACY
The report was prepared for The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC BASCAP) and The International Trademark Association (INTA)
January 2017
Frontier Economics, Ltd.
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