4th June 2008 2:30 PM   by Eric M. Zeman

Federal authorities in New York state have uncovered nearly 20,000 counterfeit phones that bare the brand names from most of the major handset manufacturers. The phones were seized in March from a company called Perfect Connection, located in Jamaica, N.Y. Among the faked handsets were 3,827 Motorolas, 5,249 Samsungs, 4,311 LGs, 798 Nokias and 5,503 Sony Ericssons. All of the phones appear to have been manufactured and imported from China. In connection, the authorities also found an unspecified number of faked Motorola universal cell phone chargers bearing the Underwriters Laboratory logo. The UL says the chargers have not been tested for safety and don't have the right to bear the UL logo.