Florida man gets 6 years behind bars for flogging fake Cisco kit to US military Miami resident Onur Aksoy has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for running a multi-million-dollar operation selling fake Cisco equipment that ended up in the US military. Counterfeiting computer parts is nothing new, though Aksoy's scheme, which ran from 2014 to 2022, was innovative in its scale. He oversaw at …
I might be wrong, but it reads like the US military simply happened to end up buying some of this guy's routers- either directly or indirectly- not that he had nor was offered a more formal arrangement with them.
Also, it doesn't look like this guy was operating in good faith or ever selling genuine routers to start off with. Even if he'd "lucked into" a potential contract with the army and had the opportunity to "go straight", would he have ever been in a position to obtain and sell genuine Cisco routers in the first place *and* still do so profitably at the price he'd been selling the fake routers at?
And as a "Keep calm and carry on" message to all the fakers selling to the general population. This wasn't something under the radar, Cisco were aware of the operation and sending cease and desist notices for years and no one was taking any action over this fraudulent operation until the DoD got stung.
Or report it to the authorities. Cicso were losing revenue and were in a position to sue, but law enforcement and the judiciary had what they needed to bring a fraud case too. Were they not aware? Had Cisco not told anyone? Had no one else noted the shit they were buying as "new" Cisco kit? I find it hard to believe that no one bothered to report this to the cops or FBI (interstate trade in fake goods and all the encompassing "wire fraud") and no one did anything about it.
The old "it's a grey area you see" in response to anything short of mass murder as they cba with it and even threatening behaviour they couldn't care less about - I was on the receiving end of "how do you know your neighbour doesn't have an eye condition?" After I complained about him intimidating my disabled wife by staring at her whenever she was out in the garden, worse plod Scotland decided the officer in question had done nothing wrong and was simply airing his thoughts.
Flipping useless so they are.....
When I saw this story's headline I though he was buying "whitebox" Huawei gear and stenciling a Cisco logo on it.
If thd gear was destined for the US govt and military he would probably have got it from the PRC for $0. :)
Not that clever apparently - just any old tat packed into old boxes with a quick buff and out the door.
I am guessing the lack of performance or functionality alerted his unfortunate customers which would not have been a problem with huawei gear I would have thought.
Still the acceptance testing for gear going into operational use by the military would appeared to have been MIA.
I would have thought they would be operating within a central government procurement framework either direct to Cisco or with at scale suppliers/resellers.
Sounds like someone nickel and dimed on the Purchase Order and ended up with a pile of counterfeit kit. Esp. With the mention of multiple companies and significant online presence at Amazon/eBay.
I’m also struggling as it would gone on maintenance too.
Maybe others got away with it.
I can think of 2 reasons:
1. Because then the resellers start lobbing sueballs left right and center over "unfair business practices", monopolies, single sourcing, etc. (all of which is bullshit but afaik government rules basically demand that all such contracts are put out for tender and don't allow limiting to just the OEM, which means that a reseller who just happens to have made the right purchases or lucked into just the right contract at the right time might be able to offer the kit cheaper than the OEM)
2. Because the kit required is old or ancient by anyone's standard. A lot of kit in most militaries isn't even close to cutting edge and relies on "industry proven hardware" when it was designed 30 years ago. Which means that the OEM might not even have any stock of that kit left and you're automatically required to deal with resellers who buy and sell old kit. Exactly the sort of territory where you might be able to get away with selling dodgy shit for a long time because people might put down small foibles (due to bad hardware) on it being old kit instead of it being dodgy
"might be able to offer the kit cheaper than the OEM)"
Yes, resellers don't pay retail, or even wholesale prices. They buy at a rate that pretty much cuts out all the support costs incurred when selling on to a user. The re-seller than takes on all the phone support etc risks and prices accordingly. I don't know how Cisco operate, but support is usually a "cost centre" which some OEMs are happy to offload to resellers or outsource.
Well I suppose that it means they are helping fund gainful employment. Something of a devil's advocate argument here but government spending isn't wasted if it means one less person claiming social security. And given how much money governments spend (typically the biggest single spender in the economy) that sounds like a good use of money.
So: Buy from the manufacturer - help fund one hundred jobs. Buy from a retailer - help fund one hundred and ten jobs. Buy from a procurement service - help fund one hundred and fifty jobs.
I suppose it all comes down to whether the extra cost to the government is more or less than the cost of more direct intervention eg; social security payments for fifty jobs.
Or - the manufacturer is increasingly a foreign company. Retailers and procurement services often aren't. Thus at least some money is going to citizens instead of foreigners.
Actually several.
Was it really crap?
If it did the job then the jail time is excessive.
If it did not do the job then it boggles the mind it took so long for the customers to notice, or even to allow it past the initial test phase - there was one, yes?
With that amount of money flying around - addresses the last point.
"If it did not do the job then it boggles the mind it took so long for the customers to notice, or even to allow it past the initial test phase - there was one, yes?"
In thr case of the DoD, it may be that the devices slipped through a loop hole. The kit was faked up to look like new Cisco kit and if that kit was an already approved model, it might well of just gone through "on the nod" while still keeping within the rules until someone eventually had to look much more closely at it or claim on a Cisco warranty.
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