The Kirinyaga Road in Nairobi, is the kind of dusty and degraded street which is on the margins of most African urban centers: cars and motorcycles open way through the crowds of buyers looking full windows of clothes, electronics and cheap appliances .
On a Tuesday morning in April, a Swedish blonde stood out in the crowd to take nine Kenyan police to a store which, she believed, was selling counterfeit goods.
But they were not behind bags of imitation watches or sunglasses. The store specialized in a counterfeit product much less attractive - and more dangerous: ball bearings.
Ahead of the operation was Tina Aastroem, brand protection chief SKF Swedish bearing manufacturer. Aastroem had examined the shop six months before and found that many of SKF products were there, and also from rival manufacturers FAG and Timken, were false.
In operation, his team spent hours analyzing boxes stacked from floor to ceiling - fueled by chicken request to the local KFC - and found $ 100,000 in counterfeit bearings for cars and other vehicles.
"It was about three tons that needed to be inspected, raised, packaged and transported," Aastroem said. "Who does this kind of work do not have to go to the gym."
Everything is pirated, from shoe polish to drugs and automotive parts. The problem of scale estimates range from US $ 461 billion - 2.5 percent of global trade - according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, about $ 1.8 trillion, according to calculations of the past year International chamber of Commerce.
And while the luxury goods manufacturers - who are among the most famous fakes - lose money on the trade, the risk for consumers in this case is low.
However, when it comes to more mundane things, such as bearings, counterfeits can be as dangerous as costly.
formula 1
The Finnish Formula 1 driver Mika Häkkinen left the San Marino Grand Prix 1998 when his gearbox failed due to counterfeit bearings.
There have been cases in which imitation of building materials caught fire. Counterfeit Electronics has provoked failures in military equipment.
And SKF claims that a false bearing installed in the pump of a pool caused a fire that reduced a house to ashes.
"The question is not what is being spoofed, but what is not," said Karl Lallerstedt, program director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, a network of law enforcement agencies.
In operation in Nairobi, one of the 130 of which SKF participated this year, about 95 percent of SKF bearings Aastroem found were falsified.
When he arrived and saw what was happening, the shop owner tried to run, but was soon caught and arrested, Aastroem said. He paid a fine and false bearings were destroyed.
Participation in these operations help Aastroem understand how sellers market their goods and the type of customer who buy them - knowledge that helps the company to identify counterfeits and to provide better information to customers about potential pitfalls related to the use of counterfeit products .
"Without being on site is not possible to understand the business model," she said. SKF's strategy to put your hands dirty "is a significant investment, but worth it."
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