We are all feverishly trying to figure out the latest signs of counterfeits and how to detect them, but many of the common attributes of counterfeiting are from procedures the actual manufacturers have been using for years. The parts shown here are from one of the largest authorized distributors in the country. As you can see one lot is clearly sandblasted and shows the signs that we have described in earlier posts, which are common in counterfeiting. As we attend conferences and speak with others leading the fight against counterfeiting, we hear that the manufacturers actually sandblast the old part numbers off of their own components to upgrade, downgrade, or just edit a printing mistake on a part. Good luck trying to get documentation verifying that from them. Unfortunately, if we receive parts like this from another independent distributor we would have to call them counterfeits even if they were legitimate. Without documentation one has to assume that the parts have potentially been tampered with.
Robb Hammond is the founder and CEO of AERI, an independent electronic component distributor operating since 1994. He is a founding member and former committee chair of SAE AS6081, the counterfeit-avoidance standard for independent distributors adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense, and a recognized authority on counterfeit detection.
