Interpol’s Michael Ellis: How counterfeiting is affecting all walks of life

Counterfeiters will fake anything that they can sell. Interpol has found everything from fake crash helmets that disintegrate when you fall off your bike to fake airbags that don’t go off in a crash and shampoo and body lotion made in factories where the only water supply is a disused toilet.

Fake alcohol caused the deaths of more than 40 people in the Czech Republic through methanol poisoning. When police raided the operation, they found materials that could have killed potentially thousands, and many more could have been seriously injured.