The SKF brand is associated with impeccable engineering and superior quality. Counterfeit products are and will remain an issue for all branded bearing manufacturers including SKF. They exist in all geographical markets, in all industrial segments and for all bearing types and sizes. Seals and grease products are also affected.
Illegal bearing manufacturers deploy devious techniques to fool end-users and OEM's. If you get your SKF bearings or other products through unauthorized distributors, you risk getting more than just counterfeit SKF bearings.
Thanks to today's sophisticated graphics technologies, unscrupulous manufacturers worldwide are also producing very good copies of SKF product boxes, increasing the odds that their counterfeit bearings will slip into legitimate industrial distribution channels.
Some of these include:
New low-quality bearings that are re-labeled with false brand markings and put into imitation packaging that appears identical to the real thing.
Bearings are re-manufactured, then sold with no indication that they have been re-manufactured. Very old bearings are cleaned, polished and re-supplied.
For companies like SKF, bogus bearings do more than tarnish their reputation or represent an economic loss to customers. If you believe that you have accidentally purchased a counterfeit, or would like to anonymously inform us of activity in this area, please contact SKF.
Could you identify the difference between authentic and fake SKF packaging?
Probably not, yet a counterfeit bearing in a critical application could cost you or someone else their life.
Packaging variation of the genuine SKF product and packaging. (photo SKF)
Sophisticated graphics technologies and unscrupulous manufacturers worldwide are producing very good copies of SKF product boxes. This increases the odds that the counterfeit bearings will slip into legitimate industrial distribution channels. (photo SKF)
The markings on the counterfeit (right) looks more "genuine" than the marking on the authentic SKF bearing.
Counterfeiters are very good at reproducing the original markings and the packaging of SKF bearings.
Compare this authentic SKF bearing to the counterfeit below. A visual inspection by an untrained eye would not likely identify the counterfeit.
Counterfeit bearings in critical applications can fail resulting in property damage, serious injury or death.
Please buy your SKF bearings from authorized retailers and distributors.
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