x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Imitation Nation

Imitation Nation

Imitation Nation is a podcast that covers all things counterfeit, hosted by Shabbir Imber Safdar and Sven Bergmann.

true crime medicine

All Episodes

27:53

Episode 20: Fake Ozempic documentary, Baggu using...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/10/31

Nightline aired a special investigative report “The Dark Shot” on the rise in fake Ozempic with Special Agent Nicole Johnson of Homeland Security Investigations. The reporters found fake Ozempic with no prescription needed available online. They also went to the Port of Cincinnati where they watched them open some Spanish labeled Ozempic that’s not safe for Americans and unable to determine if its counterfeit or not. There was also an interview with legendary investigative reporter Katherine Eban,

en

27:53

Episode 19: FedEx tariffs announcement, Belgium’s...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/10/24

In this episode, we cover:Fedex announced to analysts that the tariff chaos will hit their finances to a total tune of a billion dollars. $300mm of that is due to costs associated with clearing goods through customs, which has suddenly become infinitely more complex. Despite that, revenue they said will grow 4-6% this year, indicating that a massive fall off in shipping is not anticipated. For context, Fedex’s stock has declined 19% this year, which is a sign that the market really punished

en

27:19

Episode 18: Fake vapes, Puma wins victory over a...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/09/22

Show notes - Imitation Nation #18In this episode, we cover: The International Trademark Association published a quick 14 page handout on making the case for Return on Investment for your company’s anticounterfeiting program. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last week announced the seizure of 4.7 million units of unauthorized e-cigarette products with an estimated retail value of

en

20:56

Episode 17: Fake meat, perfume, and lamborghini...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/09/15

In this episode, we cover:Interview with Amazon CCU Counterfeit Lamborghini Drinks Researchers develop new sensor to ‘detect counterfeit medicine’ 32,000 pounds of meat products recalled due to false USDA inspection marks. Counterfeit perfume on Walmart’s platform. Attorney General Nessel Announces Felony Charges Following FORCE Team Counterfeit Product Seizures If you have a story you want us to cover, let us know in the comments on our linkedin page.

en

23:49

EMERGENCY POD: End of de minimis and Type 86: what is...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/08/29

On this week’s episode of Imitation Nation, we discuss one of the biggest trade policy shifts in years: the end of De Minimis, which officially expired at midnight through an Executive Order. This sudden end to a decades old policy is sending ripple effects through supply chains, as freight companies, freight forwarders and Post Offices across the globe are temporarily suspending or stopping shipments to the United States.We explore what this seismic change means for global commerce and we

en

26:18

Imitation Nation Episode 16: The end of de minimis

Imitation Nation ·

2025/08/29

In this episode of Imitation Nation, hosts Shabbir Imber Safdar and Sven Bergmann break down one of the biggest trade shifts of 2025: the imminent and likely permanent end of the de minimis. With more than 1.3 billion packages entering the U.S. last year under this exemption, it’s about to get a lot harder for counterfeit goods to hide in the pile. But what does this change mean for brands, shippers, consumers and law enforcement? We discuss what it is, why it’s ending, how it might make

en

63:44

Episode 15: End of de minimis and many other stories

Imitation Nation ·

2025/08/11

This White House has made big changes to De Minimis: For a look at the scale of packages, check out this CBS News piece. We cover the impact on counterfeit medicines, especially fake fentanyl pills, and techniques that companies might start to use to circumvent tariff uncertainty. The Trump trademark owners have complained about ecommerce platforms selling counterfeit versions of Trump-branded products and filed litigation. We also talk about a machine that makes counterfeit pills, the pill press,

en

30:34

Episode 14: Operation Pangea 17, Lululemon suing...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/07/28

Operation Pangea 17 from Interpol was released. See this fancy graphic.Sven looked back at the previous 10 years of Operation Pangea and these results are record breaking by any measure. 50.4 million doses of illicit pharmaceuticals worth USD 65 million. The largest operation to date had been $11 million in illicit medicines. Arrest of 769 suspects and the dismantling of 123 criminal groups worldwide. In total, law enforcement agencies worldwide launched 1,728 investigations and issued 847

en

30:30

Episode 13: Unusable Graphics Cards and a Win in the...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/07/08

Tom’s hardware review ran an article this week about a chinese pc repair shop that received four of these, and upon closer examination, three of them were fake and unrepairable and unusable. They had modified older cards and in some cases attached other parts to give the appearance of the 4090 unit but the fake one was still inoperable which you would have discovered the moment you plugged it in.StockX has reported it rejected nearly $10 million worth of counterfeit sneakers last year as part of a

en

21:33

Episode 12: Operation RapTor, Fake Money, New...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/06/26

PSM did a video story on the Heal The World civil suit from Gilead Sciences, accusing the pharmacy in NYC of trafficking in counterfeit HIV medicine.We discuss the massive four-continent bust that Europol coordinated of dark web sellers of counterfeit controlled substances as part of Operation RapTor. We also discuss CBP’s enormous seizure of counterfeit Apple chargers. We think it must have been an entire container’s worth of fake chargers, given descriptions of the quantity. There was a bust

en

28:12

Episode 11: Fishy Freight, Nike's Counterfeit Win,...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/06/09

PSM released a report this week on fishy freight shipments of medicine into the country, using data we pulled from the FDA’s medical freight shipments database. We are finding two kinds of fraud here. First, we’re seeing shipping manifests where the manufacturer listed on the report is not an FDA-registered entity, which means it’s been made in a facility never inspected by the FDA. Which means it’s illegal to enter the country.Second is that we’re seeing people misdeclare the product code on an

en

37:27

Episode 10: The End of De Minimis and the Rise of...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/06/05

The end of de minimis started on Friday May 2nd. That affects 1.36bn packages that enter the country every year. This change will affect both consumers that buy cheap products from China but also businesses in the U.S. that source their products or parts from China. We’re expecting a rise in the technique of trans-shipping to evade the end of Chinese de minimis packages.The US Trade Representative released the 2025 “Special 301 Report” on Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement. There

en

40:16

Episode 9: End of de minimis from China, USTR Special...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/05/12

The end of de minimis started on Friday May 2nd. That affects 1.36bn packages that enter the country every year. This change will affect both consumers that buy cheap products from China but also businesses in the U.S. that source their products or parts from China. We’re expecting a rise in the technique of trans-shipping to evade the end of Chinese de minimis packages.The US Trade Representative released the 2025 “Special 301 Report” on Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement. There are

en

22:13

Episode 8: Our Fake Stamp Experiment and Concerns...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/04/28

In this episode, Shabbir and Sven talk about…Counterfeit forever stamps. Shabbir bought stamps that are too cheap to be true and is sending three letters to Sven, two with fake stamps and one with a real one, to see if they arrive. Remember, the US Postal Inspectors would like you to report fake stamps here: https://www.uspis.gov/report Counterfeit airbags. We discuss Michigan’s one-of-a-kind auto fraud task force, and their work to fight counterfeit air bags and other fake auto parts. Learn more

en

22:53

Episode 7: Fake Ozempic, fake stamps, and fake airbags.

Imitation Nation ·

2025/03/19

Go now and donate to support Sven's Police Unity Tour 400 mile ride.A pharmacy ordered Ozempic from a distributor out of Florida and dispensed it to a patient. It was one of those dial a dose pens and the dial didn’t match their prescription. They brought it back to the pharmacy, who correctly quarantined it and called the Board of Pharmacy. And this is the best part: The BOP investigator came over, pulled out his phone and the new magic decoder ring called PULSE that checks the serial

en

34:22

Counterfeit coffee, counterfeit cosmetics bust, and...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/03/01

Sven and Shabbir discuss three big stories of the wee:Reuters story on the Brazilian coffee industry’s concerns with products that have Brazil in the name of the product, but don’t contain Brazilian sourced coffee beans. A case, investigated by Homeland Security Investigation, and prosecuted by The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois in East St. Louis IL of a woman who plead guilty to selling counterfeit designer goods and cosmetics. The NYPD just busted not the

en

44:25

Imitation Nation February 11: Fake Lululemon at...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/02/13

Since clothing is not a regulated product like medicine, people who want to make cheap knock offs have a lot more ability to infringe on the original design by making a few changes. What we haven’t talked about is the fact that the US has a policy of not allowing clothing made with cotton that used slave labor, which is a problem in the Chinese textile industry. Listen to learn more about how counterfeiters exploit import loopholes, and all of the other knockoff news this week.

en

26:35

Imitation Nation January 28, 2025

Imitation Nation ·

2025/01/29

This week on Imitation Nation, Shabbir and Sven will tackle the case of "DrXanax" a Canadian national who was just sentenced to 30 years in the U.S. They also cover the indictment of a New York aesthetician who allegedly posed as a medical professional while injecting clients with counterfeit Botox. Lastly they describe a Port of Long Beach smuggling operation that sounds like the script of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Show notes: Arden McCann prosecution Documents: Indictment (2020), Guilty plea

en

48:16

Imitation Nation, January 10: Fake Birkin Bags and...

Imitation Nation ·

2025/01/11

Sven and Shabbir discuss the biggest stories in counterfeits for the last two weeks. Walmart.com "Birkin Bag" controversy Yahoo! News Columbia Journal for Law and the Arts The U.S. Trade Representative's Notorious Markets Report See the press release and the full report. Xiaofei "Sophie" Chen arrest and prosecution PSM copy of the criminal complaint Sven and Shabbir make their predictions for big developments in counterfeiting and counterfeit prosecutions for 2025

en

38:34

Imitation Nation December 17: Legal Cases and Lawsuits

Imitation Nation ·

2024/12/19

This week, Shabbir Safdar and Sven Bergmann cover the arrest of a Houston, Texas woman accused of posing as a medical professional and injecting fake lip fillers, a woman in Medina, Tennessee busted selling research-only compounds as weight loss injections, and an update on the lawsuit filed by grieving families against Snapchat. Listen now.

en

21 results

Similar Podcasts

Australian True Crime

Bravecasting

True Crime Podcast 2025 - Police Interrogations, 911 Calls and True Police Stories Podcast

True Crime Podcast 2025

Ontario Cold Cases - The Podcast

Jay Nicoll

The Conspiracy Files

Bloody FM

Crime at Bedtime

Jack Laurence