Real or fake?(conterfeit merchandise)

Whether it's adulterated medicine that can kill you, bogus batteries that can burn you, or wannabe Guccis that simply wear out fast (though you may look stylish for a while), counterfeit merchandise is everywhere. In 2006, a record year for seizures, 14,000 shipments of counterfeits were confiscated. Figures for 2007 were high as well.

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Because today's fakes are not just the usual knockoffs, you need to take special precautions when you shop.

A WIDESPREAD PROBLEM

"If they make it, they fake it," says Caroline Joiner, executive director of the Global Intellectual Property Center, run by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Every product in every industry is vulnerable."

Fakes include truly unsafe merchandise. Investigators have seized brake pads made of kitty litter, sawdust, and dried grass; power strips, extension cords, and smoke alarms with phony Underwriters Laboratories (UL) marks; medical test kits that give faulty readings; toothpaste made with a chemical found in antifreeze; and cell-phone batteries that could explode. Online drugstores claiming to operate from Canada but actually based in other countries have peddled "Lipitor" and "Celebrex" pills stored under uncontrolled conditions and containing the wrong active ingredients.

That's just for starters. Among the phonies are some you would suspect: handbags, clothes, watches, and amusingly renamed colognes such as Essey Miyami instead of Issey Miyake. But there are also surprising fakes: golf balls, oil filters, and baby formula, for example. With some, the low price is a giveaway (a $2,000 Prada purse for $35?). Others are priced close to retail to fool you.