Counterfeit bearings seized by West Yorkshire Trading Standards

Thousands of counterfeit bearings, weighing a total of about 1.5 tonnes, have been seized by officers from West Yorkshire Trading Standards.

They confiscated industrial and automotive bearings in 170 types and sizes in the raid on a distributor in the county, reports drivesncontrols.com

Members of the SKF brand protection team were present to identify counterfeit versions of some of their company’s products. Bearings carrying other manufacturers’ names were also seized and these are also suspected of being fakes.

SKF takes part in more than 100 raids a year against retailers, distributors and manufacturers of counterfeit products around the world.

Engineering manager Paul Dysiewicz said: “Customers who accidentally purchase counterfeit products are being cheated financially, risk damage to their machinery and incur expensive downtime as a result. They may also be liable to third-party damages."

If you believe you may have been sold counterfeit SKF products, there's a free smartphone app – SKF Authenticate – that can be used to send photos to SKF for verification. It's available from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Pictures of the bearings can also be emailed to genuine@skf.com 
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SKF and other bearings manufacturers have launched a counterfeit awareness campaign through the World Bearing Association (WBA).