I hope there was not a lot of stress at your end Dave, I wonder if this is not just bad stock management, I would be surprised if a top tier supply company would buy fakes, actually I think not. It could be that some badly programed items / reel was returned and just put back in stock as a mistake, bad policy to not trace stock !
It could be good stock replaced with fake at the board (some may only use the serial and not program any data.) company or on route to make a few $$ illegal. Anything else in between.
Bummer as they say
