How much does counterfeiting cost the Canadian economy? Who knows but certainly not the $30 billion that’s quoted by all the anti counterfeiting groups claim. Looks like the RCMP didn’t do any homework on this at all…

closer examination reveals that the RCMP data is fatally flawed. Responding to an Access to Information Act request for the sources behind the $30 billion claim, Canada’s national police force last week admitted that the figures were based on “open source documents found on the Internet.” In other words, the RCMP did not conduct any independent research on the scope or impact of counterfeiting in Canada, but rather merely searched for news stories on the Internet and then stood silent while lobby groups trumpeted the figure before Parliament.

Source: Michael Geist

I certainly would have expected more from the national police force. I guess this goes to show you that you have to fact check everything, no matter who the source is.