[The Philpott]

Counterfeiting has certainly extended down to smaller and less expensive components/assemblies in recent years, and very much like the proverbial bump in the carpet- squash it down and it pops up elsewhere. It would not surprise me at all to learn that discrete components such as these are now being counterfeited. The packaging and external appearance has become VERY convincing in many of these. I was shown some convincingly faked crabtree and MK packaging and also injection moulded circuit breakers cases some years ago, and the detail on the latter was up to the standard of a revell or airfix model- but it was simply a switch, with nothing else inside. On this occasion they had come out of China, but to be fair they are also coming from elsewhere.