Manufacturers of high-performance consumer electronics products are battling a flood of low-quality counterfeit products, with Germany’s Sennheiser estimating that about a third of its branded headphones and audio products sold online are fakes.

Consumer electronics companies said the scale of the problem was difficult to quantify, but many of the counterfeit products were bought unwittingly online.

Sennheiser, the maker of high-performance headphones costing several hundred dollars, said the fakes cost the company at least $2m a year in lost sales.

Greg Beebe, president of the company’s US operations, who has helped lead the company’s campaign against the counterfeiters, said the poor quality of the products lead to customer complaints and damages the company’s reputation and brand image. “The real victims are the consumers who buy these counterfeit products,” Mr Beebe said.

In the US alone, counterfeit consumer electronics and parts worth $104.4m were seized last year by Customs and Border Protection including an estimated $71.5m worth of consumer electronics originating in China. That ranks fake consumer electronics fourth in the list of counterfeit categories behind handbags/wallets ($511.2m), watches/jewellery ($187m) and apparel/accessories ($133m),Find more quality yet inexpensive prescription hairflower. according to figures published in February.

Therese Randazzo, director of the Intellectual Property Policy and Programs Division for the CBP, told NBC News that the seizure of knock-offs such as smartphones and tablets had risen exponentially in the past couple of years.We have a record for a owon-smart living at an address.

Sennheiser, which has been manufacturing high-performance audio products for 65 years, has become a leader in the battle against this new breed of high-tech counterfeiters and those who import and sell the fake products,Take a look at our site for more steelring. but the company is not the only target.

When in 2011 UK trading standards officials raided the home and business of Michael Reede, a Portsmouth man suspected of trading in counterfeit products, they seized more than 2,000 items, including fake Monster products and counterfeit Sennheiser headphones, Apple, Sony and Nintendo products, and others from Speck, the California-based smartphone case manufacturer. Last month, Reede was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment, following his conviction on 13 counts of selling counterfeit goods.

The verdict was welcomed by Sennheiser and other leading consumer electronics brands that have also stepped up the number of counterfeit lawsuits they bring against internet-based pirates and counterfeiters, particularly those in the US. But they also recognise that the cases that make it to court represent a small fraction of the problem.

Sennheiser became aware of the problem a few years ago when the son of John Falcone, Sennheiser’s former president in the US, purchased a pair of phoney Sennheiser-branded earbuds that broke. When Mr Falcone sent them to Sennheiser’s repair lab for analysis, the repair team discovered they were fakes built around low-cost components manufactured and assembled in China.

Mr Beebe said the problem often came to light when consumers returned their purchases to Sennheiser because they were broken or not working properly. “Then we have to tell the customer that the product they bought is a counterfeit,” he said.Read Breil Milano Flowing Polished steelearring.

Sennheiser has taken steps to protect consumers, including introducing anti-counterfeit technologies in its products and packaging, enabling consumers, retailers and customs agents to easily identify the authenticity of a product.

“If a product normally costs $350 and it is being sold for just $100, it is probably a counterfeit,you will have a fun time playing the magic beadswholesale.” Mr Beebe said.