Man smuggles 40,000 fake devices including iPhone, iPads into US

Don’t be so sure your Apple product is the real thing.

A Chinese national living in the U.S. on a student visa smuggled more than 40,000 electronic devices and accessories, including iPads and iPhones, from China into the U.S. before getting apprehended, according to an announcement made this week by the by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division, the Department of Justice said.

“Online purchasing of consumer electronics from sites other than the manufacturer amplifies the opportunity for counterfeits,” James A. Hayward, Ph.D., Chairman, President & CEO of Stony Brook, NY-based Applied DNA Sciences, told Fox News.  Applied DNA secures supply chains for electronic components using unique DNA molecular tags that the company designs and manufactures.

But Hayward adds that it’s “a buying pattern that is hard to break.” Consumers often opt for online retailers that sell devices at a lower price than the manufacturer.