Quality & Counterfeit Avoidance

NCIS (The Naval Counter Intelligence Service) strikes again!  To date there have been three significant raids on electronic component distributors selling counterfeits.  MVP, VisionTech, and now Epic International Electronics, Inc. …

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released findings today with regard to blatant counterfeit electronic components readily available for purchase in a report called, ”DOD Supply Chain: Suspect Counterfeit Electronic Parts…

When testing for blacktopping on IC’s the use of acetone has been the accepted method used when inspecting parts purchased from the open market.  The counterfeiters figured out years ago…

Every distributor must be careful that they are not exporting to customers like the one described in this story.  There are procedures that can be put in place to investigate…

We continue to hope with the greater awareness about counterfeits that the crooks will go out of business and this problem will quietly go away.  The opposite seems to be…

Mustafa Abdul Aljaff, 32, has finally been sentenced after creating and selling counterfeit electronic components to our military and many commercial and medical companies as well.  His company, MVP Micro,…

The recently enacted National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 has made the accidental use of counterfeit electronic components in government equipment a much more serious offense.  The law increased the…

Russia’s Phobos-Grunt mission to Mars, which launched in November, has ended with a crash back to Earth.   A computer malfunction, which has been linked to suspected counterfeit electronic components, is…

As we visit our customers we get questions about different methods of detection and which ONE is the best.  It would be so nice if there was a litmus test…

President Obama signed the $700 billion Defense Act on New Years Eve.  It is packed full of many controversial issues and one which relates directly to the semiconductor industry.   Buried…