8/6/21  Everyone wants a bargain but buying by lowest price continues to be a bad idea. Merchants on Instagram are selling counterfeit Apple phone chargers, lightning cable, and USB power adapters at a steep discount. Only these products tend to explode, causing overheating, fires, and injury such as burns and shocks. A USA Today study checked the safety limits of electricity flowing through 400 fake iPhone adapters and found a 99% failure rate. 

About 1 million online listings selling counterfeit Apple products, usually from China and Hong Kong, have become a multi-million-dollar operation targeting mostly consumers in Europe and the U.S., according to a report by Ghost Data Team published on Bloomberg.com. Ghost Data studied 163 sellers of counterfeit products on Instagram, and these companies uploaded 50,000 sales posts in the last year. U.S. investigators have determined that overseas-manufactured counterfeits take a circuitous route through several companies before reaching retail markets in the U.S.

 Counterfeits have been a persistent problem. Instagram parent company Facebook says it continues to devote resources to taking down sites that sells such products, yet you can still find such offers advertised on Instagram and Facebook. One seller grossed $140,000 in a single day, according to Ghost Data. Amazon is also plagued by counterfeits.

 If you see an ad for an AirPod Pro for $25 that typically sells for $249, you can be assured that you are not looking at a bargain. You are looking at junk. Also, if a photo of a product shows no logo, and there is no description for short circuit protection or accompanying product information, scroll on.