San Francisco, CA: September 29, 2025 – Counterfeits are not only a revenue problem. The World Health Organization estimates that around one in ten medical products in low- and middle-income countries is substandard or falsified, a figure that has stood since a 2017 study covering 88 countries. A May 2025 WHO report on detection technologies notes that uptake of screening tools remains uneven and that many countries lack the legal frameworks and funding to use them.
Industry groups put the economic cost to countries at about USD 30.5 billion each year, and WHO warns of avoidable illness and death. The risk reaches beyond medicines to cosmetics, supplements, baby products, car parts and electrical goods that look identical to the real thing but have never been through safety testing.
Online sales make these products easy to find and difficult to trace. Sellers use ordinary marketplace listings, social media shops and short-lived websites, and ship in small parcels.
“A counterfeit phone charger or skincare product is a safety issue first and a trademark issue second. That changes both the urgency and the way we work with platforms,” says Hannah Fletcher, marketing and events manager at MarkScout.
MarkScout prioritises health- and safety-critical categories in client programs, working with platforms and payment providers to remove listings quickly and with regulators when products pose a direct danger.