Hard Warez?

A few years ago I got bit by counterfeit capacitors. It was a royal pain, requiring replacement of my computer's MB - and all the hassles that go along with that (e.g. plugins requiring re-authorization).
 
But there turned out to be an interesting backstory, including industrial espionage and treachery. A new proprietary electrolytic had been developed by one company, so a rival company got someone employed there as a janitor, who smuggled in tiny spy cameras and stole the documentation. Unfortunately, he didn't get all the pages, so the faux formula was missing a critical step that caused the capacitors to become leaky prematurely. Dell, for one, had been duped into buying millions of 'em. 
 
 
 
 

A friend of mine has just been bitten with fake Shure SM58's and SM57's too. These ebay copies were too cheap and were excellent though. Even down to the pouch and the box and printing etc all over it. The mics felt good and looked solid etc.
 
But there are some things that tell them apart. And they don't have the technology built in to eliminate the handling noise and the capsule does not sound that great either.
 
Moral is if you think Shure mics are too good to be true on ebay, they probably are. But capacitors though, that is just rude. I mean where do you go to buy a decent capacitor? I want to buy a capacitor and know I am getting what I paid for!

When I buy parts it's always from a dealer that I know is reputable. Sprague is really gouging on popular caps so I've switched to F&T. Great quality and not much more than the Chinese fakes. Buyer beware when dealing with China because there is NO accountability on their end.