chinese counterfeitng

@tomic601 - I remembered it as a problem from some time ago when the US was attempting to negotiate trade agreements with the Far East to reduce counterfeiting-- it really gave me pause. Glad that the folks dealing with supply were screening.
As a lark, a colleague who did me a big favor on a set of NOS tubes recently sent me another set-- a pair of Mullard EF86s -- that were counterfeit, but apparently really well done, at least to the uninitiated. That’s one of the reasons I shy away from E-Bay as a source for vacuum tubes. I suspect in some cases, even the sellers aren’t aware that they are offering bogus goods.
Thanks for your post.

Yeah they make bootleg cd box sets and the real box sets lol....you get to choose $35 fake $135 real....or japanesse pressed cds. You can find bootleg for $10 fake or real for $80 ...the choice is all yours ....Beatles ,Stones ,Bowie , Led Zepplin etc.i did buy a tube amp I dare its beautiful.

@whart there is a city in China w unsavory sectors that specializes in the washing of chips and restencil w aerospace grade part numbers.....faking the provance of the chip is much more difficult and time consuming...

so for example in orbit under low G solder w tin grows whiskers, which in fairly short order, pardon the pun, shorts the chip....
running special batches with no tin for low volume is expensive, hence the incentive to cheat....

which is one reason why the firm I worked for on the really critical stuff did our own chips w IBM foundry in usa.....

I no longer buy any cables used. The chance they are fake is pretty high. Also the person selling them may not know they are fake anyway. Particularly AQ, Kimber and Cardas, since they are well known, have a lot of counterfeits Fake Oyaide plugs, are out there too. being sold as new. Need to buy them from a reputable dealer.
(I like Cable Co. since ordered cables are drop shipped FROM THE COMPANY that makes them. So you know they are real 100%) China is huge, and some fakes are trash, some OK and some are probably as good. But who wants to take the chance. )to me the person who buys  fakes to resell can rot forever...)
The worst are all sorts of replacement parts which are total junk. And tools which fail within days or weeks. Same issue with brand name household goods. Toasters.. etc.