This story is pretty interesting. Somebody was buying counterfeit Cisco equipment from China and reselling it as the latest Cisco gear. Research of the equipment found it to be a mix of older Cisco gear, counterfeit parts, pirated software and additional stuff added. The China resellers would also create fake paperwork, real looking Cisco boxes and even included Cisco counterfeit detection bypass technology. The result of using this crap led to network and operation disruptions of schools, military branches and other organizations.
You can find the story posted on Infosec magazine HERE. The lesson to take away is validating where you buy your equipment from. If your business depends on your equipment, maybe eBay isn’t the best source even if the seller claims it is new and authentic. I’m sure there are hundreds of other sellers using similar sources for counterfeit gear to sell discounted IT gear who are active today. If not, the China groups making this gear would not be in business. Maybe its time to adjust your procurement strategy to not focus on the lowest cost????