Fake Stock and Ghost Inventory: How to Test a Component Stock Claim

A search site shows 12,000 pieces of a scarce regulator across nine sellers. Three of them answer your enquiry within the hour, all "in stock", all able to ship this week. It is tempting to read that as availability. Often it is not. Some of those listings may be weeks old, several may be the same physical lot advertised by different brokers, and one may be a seller who has nothing at all and plans to look for the parts after your money arrives.

Shortages make this worse. Counterfeiters and opportunists move fastest when a part is scarce, which is exactly when buyers are least inclined to wait for checks. A 2013 paper on counterfeit risk, listed in NIST's publications database, names product obsolescence and long product life cycles among the conditions that give counterfeiters openings, and notes that they profit by spotting supply constraints and reacting quickly.

This guide is about the question that comes before authenticity: does the seller actually control the stock it is offering? Treat that as a separate fact from whether the parts are genuine. You can receive genuine parts very late because the quoted stock never existed, or counterfeit parts very quickly because the seller had them all along.

Name the problem precisely

"Fake stock" covers several different situations, and each needs different evidence.

Only the last two are questions for a test laboratory. The first four are questions about custody and honesty, and they are cheaper to answer before you pay.

Understand what a search result is

Aggregator listings are leads, not warehouse receipts. Octopart's own classification separates three kinds of seller: authorised distributors; non-authorised stocking distributors, which hold real inventory but have no agreement with the manufacturer; and non-authorised dealers, or brokers, which in Octopart's words do not have stock but can procure it from elsewhere. Octopart also warns that it may mark a seller as authorised because of ECIA membership, so the manufacturer's own list remains the check.

TrustedParts, run by the ECIA, shows only distributors that have proved authorisation for each manufacturer in each region. That makes its stock figures a better starting point, though you should still confirm by quote with the distributor itself.

Whatever the site, ask the seller what "in stock" means for this line: owned and on its own shelf, held on consignment, held by a partner, sitting at the manufacturer, or simply believed to be available somewhere in the market.

Start with the authorised channel

If an authorised distributor can supply, most of this guide becomes unnecessary. Check the manufacturer's distributor page first. Texas Instruments, for example, warns that parts bought outside its authorised network may be counterfeit, modified, beyond its recommended shelf life or improperly stored, and lists the distributors it does authorise. In June 2026 the ECIA urged its members to stay within manufacturer-authorised channels for the same reasons, naming counterfeits, mishandled product and parts of unknown provenance. For how to confirm a distributor's status for your region, see verifying an authorised distributor.

Authorised stock can still be wrong in the ordinary ways: a quantity that was allocated to someone else overnight, or a lead time that slips. Those are planning risks, not provenance risks.

Screen the company before the stock

Build a short identity file on any seller outside the authorised channel:

• legal name, registration and tax details (for Indian companies, the GSTIN);
• registered address and the address the stock is said to be held at;
• the age of the web domain, and whether emails come from that domain or from a free mail service;
• named sales, quality and accounts contacts;
• a bank account in the contracting company's own name;
• quality certificates, confirmed with the body that issued them;
• references from buyers in a similar industry; and
• results from a supplier-risk database such as ERAI and from a general web search.

One odd item may have an innocent explanation. A virtual office, a free email address and a request to pay a differently named company, together, should stop the deal.

ERAI has documented a bait-and-switch pattern that shows why. In the scheme it described, one company advertised large inventories as in stock on a sourcing platform; when buyers sent quote requests, a different company took the order and asked for payment by wire in advance; buyers then reported receiving nothing, the wrong quantity or nonconforming parts, and struggled to get refunds. When one company's website came down, other company names took over the same roles. The defence is procedural: confirm identity and custody before money is hard to recover.

Turn "in stock" into specific data

Ask for a quotation that states, for each line:

1. manufacturer and complete MPN;
2. exact quantity and packaging (full reels, cut tape, trays, tubes);
3. date codes, lot codes and country of origin on each package;
4. whether packages are factory-sealed, opened or repacked;
5. physical location of the stock and the ship-from country;
6. whether the seller owns it, holds it on consignment or will buy it after your order;
7. what traceability exists back to the manufacturer or an authorised distributor;
8. moisture sensitivity level and storage condition;
9. how long the quote and any reservation are valid; and
10. dispatch time from PO and cleared payment.

"Trace available" is not an answer. Ask which documents exist, which company names appear on them, what will be redacted, and when you can see them.

Ask for evidence that is hard to fake in advance

A crisp reel photograph may be genuine and still have nothing to do with your lot; the same image often turns up on several sellers' offers. Ask instead for evidence the seller could not have prepared before your request:

• a photo, taken today, with a handwritten code you chose and the date beside the packages;
• one wide shot of all the reels or trays, and close-ups of their labels;
• a short continuous video moving from the warehouse shelf to the labels;
• package counts that add up to the quoted quantity;
• moisture barrier bags, seals and humidity cards where they apply; and
• a redacted upstream invoice or packing list.

For a larger order, change the instruction: ask for three particular reels to be shown with your code in one unbroken video. This kind of evidence supports the claim that the seller has the material. It says nothing about whether the parts are authentic, and images can still be edited, so it is a filter, not a verdict.

Get a reservation, not a promise

Ask the seller to reserve the exact quantity for a defined period and confirm it in writing: the quantity, an expiry date and time with time zone, your reference, the warehouse, price and packaging, and whether anyone else can override the reservation.

If a seller cannot reserve the stock, record the offer internally as an unconfirmed sourcing lead. Planning should not count it as supply, and nobody should promise a customer a ship date based on it.

For larger or urgent buys, pay for an independent inspector to visit the stated warehouse before final payment. The inspector should confirm the address, reconcile quantity and labels, look at packaging and condition, and draw samples according to a plan you approved, not one the seller suggests.

Pay so that a false claim gets nothing

Commercial terms do more than any photograph to discourage a seller who has no stock:

• contract only with the entity you verified, and pay only into its own account;
• confirm bank details by phone on a number you found yourself;
• prohibit substitution, split lots and changes of source without written approval;
• make the traceability and inspection records part of what you are buying;
• keep the right to inspect before shipment and to reject;
• stage payment against inspection, shipment and receipt wherever the seller will accept it;
• require the seller to say if it is brokering rather than holding; and
• set out refund and replacement terms, and the seller's duty to cooperate if parts are suspect.

Escrow or a letter of credit can reduce payment risk on some deals, but neither checks the parts. Have finance and legal look at any structure you have not used before.

Recheck at goods receipt

When the shipment arrives, compare it with the evidence you approved as well as with the PO line. Quarantine it, check seals and package count, reconcile MPN, date codes, lot codes and quantity, and compare labels and packaging with the pre-shipment photos. Anything that differs from what you were shown is a finding in itself. From there the lot follows your inspection and test plan; our counterfeit IC checks guide covers which tests find what, and the date code and lot traceability guide covers how to record the lot so it can be traced later.

A simple gate for each offer

Offers in the first column follow your normal purchasing route. Offers in the middle need a written risk assessment and a budget for inspection. Offers with anything in the last column should not go ahead because production is waiting. If you are short of credible sellers, widen the field through the authorised channel first, and use forUdyog's component distributor listings or post a QUICK RFQ describing the part, quantity and evidence you will need, rather than chasing the cheapest listing on an aggregator.