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American earns $100 million selling counterfeit Cisco equipment

A federal grand jury in the District of New Jersey (USA) recently issued an indictment in which a Florida resident was charged with selling counterfeit Cisco network equipment for many years, the retail value of which is estimated at more than $ 1 billion.

According to the indictment, Miami-based Onur Aksoy, also known as Ron Aksoy and Dave Durden, operated 19 New Jersey and Florida companies, 15 Amazon stores, 10 eBay stores, and Pro Network Entities, through which he imported tens of thousands of counterfeit Cisco network devices from China and Hong Kong. Aksoy resold the equipment in the United States and to other countries. The investigation found that the fraudster earned at least $100 million.

According to the indictment, the devices that Aksoy imported to the United States were previously written off, but subsequently modified by Chinese “craftsmen.” They also had pirated Cisco software and low-quality components installed. “To make the devices look like new and genuine, they put Cisco labels on them, packed them in boxes, and even put fake documentation inside,” the resource reports.

During the operation of such equipment, there were problems with performance, functionality and security – they simply failed, crashed, which caused significant damage to networks and operations conducted by customers, including hospitals, schools, government agencies and even military installations. In some cases, losses cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Between 2014 and 2019, Cisco sent seven letters to Aksoy asking him to stop trading in counterfeit goods. Aksoy responded to at least two such emails by forcing his lawyer to provide Cisco with forged documents. In July 2021, a search warrant was issued at Aksoy’s warehouse, during which law enforcement officers seized 1,156 counterfeit Cisco devices with a retail value of more than $7 million.

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