You are browsing the archives of 2008 February.

From PC World:
U.S. and European authorities seized thousands of pieces of counterfeit computer hardware in a major operation in November and December, they announced Friday.
About 360,000 items, mostly computer networking hardware and integrated circuits, were seized by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency and the European Commission Taxation and Customs Union Directorate General, [...]

The New York Times reports on the spread of paco, a smokable cocaine residue that that is surging in use in Argentina and Brazil.
The scourge underscores a significant shift in both Argentina and its larger neighbor, Brazil, which in just a few years have become sizable cocaine consumers. Brazil now ranks as the second largest [...]

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has a report on the tactic of “Happy Trafficking,” a method of recruitment used by Human Traffickers.
From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
The antitrafficking community — allying government officials, multinational organizations, and civil-society activists — fears that the prevalence of a tactic known as “happy trafficking” could extend the reach of traffickers and [...]

A deadly bomb that exploded last week was originally meant for a police officials, authorities in Mexico announced.
The bomb exploded while still in the hands of Juan Manuel Meza Campos, who was attempting to place the bomb in a parking lot filled with police officers automobiles.
From the New York Times:
The blast unsettled the residents of [...]

The Times reports the growing trade in shark fins and its impact on shark populations worldwide.
Dr Baum’s study of the US Atlantic coast found that the number of scalloped hammerheads fell by 98 per cent between 1970 and 2005. Great white, tiger and smooth hammerhead sharks have declined at a similar rate. Sharks have [...]

An article in the Los Angeles Times reports on the fall of the US Dollar and how black market currency traders in China are now hesitant to accept dollars.
Nobody here wants the lowly American dollar anymore. Not businessmen, not bankers, not even the “yellow bulls” like this man, who has been a black-market trader for [...]

ABC News reports on dead Chinese bodies being sold on the black market to be placed on public display.
Authorities in China and New York have opened investigations into allegations that a black market in Chinese bodies, which may include executed prisoners, is sending corpses to the United States for public display.
 The investigations come in the [...]

The New York Times has an article on the practice of smuggling unlocked iPhones into China.  The phones are purchased in the United States and then sold for a premium on the black market.
From the NY Times:
Factories here churn out iPhones that are exported to the United States and Europe. Then thousands of them are [...]

An unknown couple in Colorado passed a counterfeit $100 bill when purchasing Girl Scout Cookies outside of a local supermarket.
From ABC Affiliate in Colorado The Denver Channel.com:
Westminster police issued a warning about the dangers of counterfeit money Sunday after a Girl Scout group reported they unknowingly accepted a fake $100 bill for cookies.
The girls [...]

The BBC is reporting that counterfeit goods  costs the United Kingdom economy £11 billion 2007. 
The scale of the problem is colossal.

Counterfeiting cost Britain around £11bn last year.
Tim Phillips has investigated the global [...]