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Dangerous Counterfeit Products: Contact Lenses, Meds & More

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minneapolis office of Homeland Security Investigations is warning consumers about counterfeit products.

And some of these bogus items, sold over the Internet, can be dangerous.

Homeland Security agents showed WCCO a room full of fake products, made to look like the real thing.

But on closer examination, it is clear that these items are of extremely poor quality -- everything from contact lenses to prescription medication.

"They're designer contact lenses, intended for kids to wear, the problem is they're not passing FDA standard," an agent explained. "Could actually cause damage to your eye, blindness, infection ... You see medications, prescription medications. We really don't know what are in those tablets."

In addition, there are counterfeit batteries which, when put in toys, can explode and hurt children.

"If you're getting a great deal, & a deal that you can't believe, a deal that's too good to be true, it probably is," said the Homeland Security agent.

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