CEO Arrested for Selling $1 Billion in Fake Cisco Hardware on Amazon, eBay

A Miami-based CEO has been arrested for allegedly importing $1 billion worth of counterfeit Cisco equipment from China and then selling it on Amazon and eBay. From a report: The Justice Department announced today that it had indicted 38-year-old Onur "Ron" Aksoy for selling the counterfeit Cisco gear via numerous online storefronts. Allegedly, Aksoy imported tens of thousands of fraudulent Cisco devices from China and Hong Kong. He then created at least 19 companies in New Jersey and Florida, dubbed the "Pro Network," to help him resell the hardware as genuine through the e-commerce sites.

"The operation allegedly generated over $100 million in revenue, and Aksoy received millions of dollars for his personal gain," the Justice Department said. The Cisco equipment Aksoy allegedly sold was usually older, lower-end models that were previously bought or discarded. Counterfeiters in China then modified the equipment, making the devices appear as if they were newer or more expensive Cisco product models. "As alleged, the Chinese counterfeiters often added pirated Cisco software and unauthorized, low-quality, or unreliable components -- including components to circumvent technological measures added by Cisco to the software to check for software license compliance and to authenticate the hardware," the Justice Department said. In addition, the counterfeit products were packaged with authentic-looking labels, boxes, and documentation.

Hm

[backslashdot]

What makes him different than any other CEO? Lack of connections?

Re:

[DarkRookie2]

Cause he was only worth 10 figures.
So small fry, and those guys can rot.
Plus the people in charge can go "Look look. We are doing something against bad businesses."

Re:

[arglebargle_xiv]

It was Chinese-made Cisco gear, not NSA-backdoored genuine US-made stuff. The USG hates competition.

Re:"Fake"?

[Inglix the Mad]

No more like the super laptop deal a neighbor got during the Beijing Olympics. Yeah it was cheap. It was also an old Sony with a newer model sticker. Oh and the Windows was modified to show different hardware names and Windows version. He was displeased when I showed him it was a much older system after I got rid of the garbage code.

The equivalent here would be taking a 2960S switch, modifying the case (or putting it in a clone case) for a 2960X. Then you change the IOS so that it says it's a 2960X, and sell it as a 2960X. Even better if you can scam someone by putting it in a 9200 case. Same thing with an AP... get a 3500 series AP and put it in a clone 9120AX case.

Uh, what?

[msauve]

" importing $1 billion worth of counterfeit Cisco equipment ... generated over $100 million in revenue, ... received millions of dollars for his personal gain,"

Sounds like he's still around $900 million out of pocket. The numbers don't make sense.

Re:

[SteelCamel]

Presumably that $1 billion is the list price of the equipment that it was claiming to be. What they actually paid for was a load of old junk (probably free or nearly so), the cost of faking it to look like better kit, and overheads. They then sold it for an apparently knock-down price, bringing in "over $100m".

Re:

[msauve]

>Presumably that $1 billion is the list price of the equipment that it was claiming to be.

So, a completely made-up number with no basis in reality. Like when cops make a drug bust, and value the ton of dope as if it were being sold as $10 joints.

Re:

[laughingskeptic]

The $1B is alternate reality "If they were the products he claimed they were value". It sounds like the counterfeits where sold from China at ~ 5% of Cisco's price and he turned around and charged 10% so he was doubling his investment.

I'm ashamed.

[nomad63]

As a Turkish expat US citizen, I am ashamed to share the same national heritage with this scam artist. People like these give us the bad rap in the western world.

Re:

[dsgrntlxmply]

As a person liberated from intense acute worry about Covid by the BioNTech vaccine, I am grateful to the two ethnic Turks (one born in Turkey, the other in Germany) who are research founders of that company.

Re:

[Fly Swatter]

CureVac isn't quite so grateful [reuters.com] though.

Re:

[dsgrntlxmply]

Wounded company with sub-effective vaccine. They might have a legitimate argument on the patent, but they are a corporation: gratitude, ha! What went wrong with CureVac's vaccine? [science.org]

Upcycle and reuse

[Mal-2]

I thought upcycling and reusing things were supposed to be good.

Re:

[Amnenth]

Only if you're honest about what it is.

Re:

[Mal-2]

Whoosh.

Put the bastard in front of a firing squad!

[LazLong]

All joking aside, I'm sick and tired of having to be constantly vigilant for counterfeit goods. This didn't used to be a problem in the US, but with the rise of eBay and Amazon Marketplace it has become a real issue. They've provided platforms for every would-be scam artist in the world to defraud large audiences. I have no patience for this, especially when the counterfeit goods present a danger. We should stiffen the penalties and increase the enforcement efforts. I want to go back to only having to be wo

Re:

[GNU(slash)Nickname]

I want to go back to only having to be worried about always getting fucked at the drive-through.

Doesn't that annoy the people waiting in line behind you?

China special?

[The MAZZTer]

Doesn't China also love to add their own microchips to such hardware for spying purposes? Or is that just an unconfirmed rumor for now? I'd be surprised if these weren't loaded.

After that

[wakeboarder]

They might want to go after whoever is importing fake SD cards into the US they are sold on both eBay and Amazon. They will take a cheap $2 SD card from China reprint a Samsung SanDisk or Kingston label on to it and put it in packaging that is almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Reliability issue

[dromgodis]

As alleged, the Chinese counterfeiters often added pirated Cisco software and unauthorized, low-quality, or unreliable components

So it would have been a smaller issue if they had added high-quality, reliable components?

Re:

[Spamalope]

If the sellers added 3rd party quality ram and removed firmware locks then Cisco says 'unauthorized, low-quality, or unreliable components' to imply low-quality and unreliable when there is no evidence of that. (not a fan of fraud, but not concerned if a router is sold with X/MB of ram as long as the ad says it's Micron not Cisco OEM)