. hi, everyone welcome to "on the money." i'm contessa brewer in for becky quick. why a trade war between the u.s. and china could mean you have to watch what you buy on-line really closely is it a miracle cure or just a lot of hype? now you can get cbd on drug store shelves, but what does it really do? is it worth a try? and if you're part of the gig economy there are ways to save money, save for your retirement and save on taxes that maybe you don't know about. and the million dollar idea that was no accident >> we bought the book "inventing for dummies" and we had no idea what we were doing. >> up with of those yellen books. >> "on the money" starts right

now. >> this is "on the money," your money, your life, your future. we begin with counterfeit goods. in a twist on the u.s./china trade war the fbi says chinese nationals may be trying to get around tariffs by shipping bogus goods direct to u.s. consumers shopping on-line as andrea day reports, u.s. officials are finding ways to block the knockoffs. it's this week's cover story >> reporter: this is the federal inspection station at jfk airport. a massive warehouse where almost every package coming into the united states through new york city must pass through >> we're talking about, you know, anywherem 800,000 to a million pieces of mail a day >> reporter: that's $92 billion worth of legitimate trade. in just this past fiscal year. frank rousseau is is the jfk port director for customs and border protection. the mission, keep the real goods floeg and stop imposters in

their track. >> we've seen a big spike ceguns, jewelry and guitars to what's behind these doors. >> this is our most secure room. >> reporter: the room, loaded with potentially counterfeit drugs and more >> everything from pharmaceuticals to counterfeit money, counterfeit i.d.s. >> reporter: fueling the spike, he says, e-commerce, and smaller pajsz headed straight for the consumer. >> an incredible uptick in e-commerce. >> reporter: some are so real it's almost impossible to tell the difference. >> where are we seeing most of the counterfeit products coming from >> certainly china. >> reporter: we wanted to find out what's behind the epidemics of fake coming in from china and how so many are winding up on e-commerce sites for sale. >> it's a cost for our clients. >> reporter: diane specializes in trademark law she says imposters are trying to hijack her client's luxury brand

duping the u.s. patent and trade mark office so they can register as the brand on site like amazon. >> they file a document with the trademark office that says our e-mail address has changed then they go over to the amazon brand registry and they say, we're the owner of this mark and they give their e-mail amazon gives them access to all of their tools as their rightful brand owner. with access he can take down legitimate product and they can ensure their own counterfeit product is sold on amazon. >> reporter: amazon tells us in part we remove suspected counterfeit items as we become aware of them and amazon's proactive technologies and services for protecting brands including brand registry are increasingly effective as a result, bad actors are attempting to find new ways to abuse our protections. we are working closely with the brands, the u.s. pto and others to continue to strengthen our

protections. when an elon mu-mail address isg the trademark office sends out an alert the charm office says it can be missed or ignored by a brand. >> for my clients alone i received about 12 or 15 of these e-mail alerts. >> every day i came in and find a new product, a new product category that counterfeiters are producing and faking. >> reporter: steven is the unit chief for the fbi's intellectual property rights unit and as trade wars intensify, he says criminals are looking to e-commerce and selling any way they can >> there are some that feel that as tariffs increase and other policy issues come along, that counterfeit is seen as an alternative route. it's difficult to monitor every seller operating on these platforms because they are massive and they have millions of transactions a day. >> reporter: the usptotells us

it takes seriously the issue of fraudulent, au authorized or improper submissions prevent them from being processed and mitigate any harm. i'm andrea day for "on the money." how do you avoid falling for counterfeit products when you shop on-line here with tips, joel anderson a writer at the website go banking rates.com. joel, great to talk to you why first of all when we're on-line shopping are we so much more vulnerable to these counterfeits >> there's a lot of ways where you might be able to spot a fake when you're in actual brick and mortar physical commerce that you wouldn't be able to if you're just looking at a photo that's been posted on-line. >> back in latin class in high school one of the first things we learned caveat em tore, buyer beware you think buyers ought to be skeptical and what clues should they look for. >> as different as amazon or digital markets might be, there's ways they will follow some of the same old rules of

commerce and one of those has got to be, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is so if you spot something that is significantly less expensive than it is elsewhere, you know, that deal might seem great, but guess what, you know, the odds are pretty good that you're dealing with a counterfeit or something. unless you can find a real specific reason why that price is lower, that's a pretty good sign that it's going to be a fake another one is looking at the seller the sellers all have links provided on most of the sites. go to the seller and see if other people have complained about them and see if they have a long enough record of transactions on the site those are going to help you identify which ones are legitimate and which ones aren't. >> are there ways to fake those reviews? >> yeah, absolutely. so i think one great tool is to look for items that have a whole lot of reviews there are definitely a number of avenues for producing fake

reviews and fraudulent reviews on amazon. o e more you see the harder it's replicate that many fake reviews. >> you say that buying directly from amazon is safer than buying from someone who sells on amazon >> yeah. definitely you know, those instances where amazon is actually, you know, providing the good when it's putting its brand name on there, that's a very large corporation with a lot at stake. when you're dealing with the third-party sellers you will run into potential problems. >> whether it's etsy or ebay oy ways to research the sellers other than looking at site reviews? >> yeah. a quick google search is often going to tell you a lot. at the very least, if you're thinking this might just be like a small vendor i've never heard of there will probably be some other digital footprint there.

if this is a shop in colorado springs you will be able to find its website. someone trafficking in chinese counterfeit goods, the odds are they are not going to have anything else on-line or at least other fake things to indicate who they are. >> if you get an item you think is a fake, what do you do? >> you can't always -- you can contact the seller and the authorities. >> disputing it with your credit card company as well to see if they can intervene. >> definitely. >> thank you for joining us and ginchg us that advice. appreciate that. >> thank you for having me. >> up next we're on the money. cbd is going mainstream but its effects and legality is still a bit hazy what you need to know if you plan to try it. later, working in the gig economy, the smart way to save for your retirement at the same time a look at how the stock market ended the week

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you've probably heard of cbd, maybe you've even tried it. there are hundreds of products available in stores and now cvs and walgreens are beginning to sell items in selected locations. what do we know about the items and cbd? joining us now is dr. haney, a professor of neuro biology at columbia university medical center and director of their marijuana research laboratory. tell me first of all about what you know about cbd so there's all these products that claims cbd does things to help your body and lift your spirits but all kinds of claims

this up? >> very, very little cbd is one of the components of the cannabis plant and society has jumped very far ahead of the science. cbd is still classified as a schedule 1 drug, part of the cannabis plant, so that we're very restricted on our ability to study it in a controlled way. we need to catch up with the public because they're using it for absolutely everything. >> to be clear brain effects th does, when you think about people smoking pot, you don't get high using cbd. >> not at all. it acts very differently in the brain. it doesn't produce any of the intoxication that thc does, the active component of the cannabis plant. there's some is intriguing preclinical studies showing it could have potential health benefits, but again, the science has not caught up with everything americans are using it for at the moment. >> if you go into a drug store or if you go into a stand-alone pot pharmacy and buy something

with cbd in it is it safe? >> well, the problem is, we don't exactly know what it really contains. cbd alone does not seem to have a lot of side effects which is a given in the laboratory at high doses and we don't see side effects. because it's not regulated appropriately we don't know what your abuying w because it's not regulated marketers are selling the products they say about 30% of the products you buy on the internet that say they contain cbd do not contain cbd at the levels they say. you don't know what you're getting. acutely we're not worried about the side effects but what is distressing is the fact that fda and dea are still unclear about is it a supplement, a medication, and the rulingings have not come down from the higher level of government about what it is. >> why isn't there more research this plant has been around since -- >> exactly. >> european settlers got here.

why don't we know more. >> for 25 years i've had all the regulatory pieces in place to study cannabis and its component. but because it's schedule 1 by the dea i have to study it in controlled ways in the laboratory, i collect the butts that people smoke from the cigarettes and store them in a safe permanently because they're considered schedule 1. >> like heroin. >> exactly. >> in case people are still interested in cbd is it more effective to swallow it or rub it on your hand? >> that's an excellent question. that's the other thing that i think the public isn't informed about. smoking, vaping, rubbing it on your body, taking a pill all give different pharmacological effects. you buy something that just says cbd, if you rub it on your skin you're going to get a different effect than swallowing it or smoking it that just something stamped cbd is not meaningful. >> is there anything that cbd has been clinically proven effective? >> yes so the only thing that has madee

of cbd for severe forms of childhood epilepsy there the data demonstrates, you know, in a way that makes scientists happy that it does help with that that's the only thing it's been approved for and tested for. we're still in the early stages. >> still waiting still waiting, congress. dr. haney, thank you so much for joining us appreciate that. >> thanks so much. up next we're "on the money. if you're adding freelance gigs to make more money there are ways to keep more cash that you might not be thinking about. later, how a near-death experience inspired this million dollar idea. dishwasher.m in the so what does the dishwasher do? cascade platinum does the work for you, prewashing and removing stuck-on foods, the first time. wow, that's clean! cascade platinum.

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from ride share drivers to food delivery the number of gig economy workers keeps growing. a recrept gallup poll estimates 36% of u.s. workers are gig workers, full-time or part time. going it alone what do you need to know? tim is director of advanced planning for baird it's good to see you todays something new, but you say look the avon lady and today's uber driver have a lot in common. how so >> yeah. this concept of the home-based business or the side gig or whatever you want to call it has been around for a long time and nothing new, going back to avon and tupperware and the old door-to-door vacuum salesman it's take an different for and

more common than it used to be. >> when we talk about the so-called side hustles, these are businesses that you're operating, it's a business that you essentially own, and you're spending money to make money what kind of business expenses often get overlooked as tax deductions that you should account for throughout the year? >> yeah. you may think of this as a side income but you're running a business and you're a best owner. you want to keep good records of all of the activity of the business, including the expenses you're incurring an uber driver you have a lot of mileage expepsz and transportation expenses, obviously. you have -- if you're one of those who provides a glass of water or a snack in the back of the car those expenses are deductible cell phone expenses. all on their phones and they have maps, all those expenses would be deductible as well. using part of your home for your business, you could deduct costs of the home. some of your property taxes or home insurance could be a business expense in those cases even. >> when you're self-employed you don't often have the 401(k)

option how do you makably going to have to set up your own retirement account. most are familiar with setting up an ira, but as a business owner you have other opportunities, probably one of the more common ones we see something called a sep ira that's a common one for small business owners that allows you to set aside roughly 20% of your net income from the business into the retirement account. you have to be careful if you happen to have an employee you have to cover them as well that's a great way to set aside a big chunk of money into retirement account. >> when is the point you should think about incorporating and reasons to become an llc, limited liability corporation, or this other option, an s-corp. >> it's partly a liability issue. if you're in a business where you're maybe running a higher chance of liability like being an uber driver, we're driving around, then incorporating can make sense. >> is that because it protects your personal assets

>> yes if you go by the traditional sole pro pricer, you and the business are essentially one thing. if something goes wrong in the business you have a debt you can't pay from the business, your personal assets could be liable and you have to pay that off with your personal money if you incorporate you can have more liability protection from those things. >> thank you so much for joining us it's great to have you here today. >> thanks for having me. up next, "on the money," why didn't i think of this the million dollar idea that actually could save your life. >> oh, my gosh it's a miracle ♪ indigestion, ♪ upset stomach, ♪ diarrhea... girl, pepto ultra coating will treat your stomach right. ♪nausea, heartburn, ♪ indigestion, upset stomach, ♪ diarrhea... try pepto with ultra coating.

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okay fellow drivers have you ever dropped something that ended up in a really hard to reach spot between, you know, between the seat and the console one guy almost died trying to grab his falling phone and it really sparked an idea for him he and a friend have now turned this idea into millions of dollars. our jane wells has the story ♪ >> reporter: two 40 something bros in l.a. became rich inventing a product after one of them almost died. >> now you can stop the drop with drop stop >> reporter: but they still live in a little apartment and one still sleeps on the couch. fasten your seat belts for one strange success. the story of the drop stop, which is a foam-filled blocker thing you stuff between your car seat and console, started in hollywood. jeffrey and mark were rival

would-be movie producers who became best friends. >> he's my brother. >> professionally. >> all right. >> reporter: in 2006, newburger broke up with his girlfriend and landed on simon's couch he thought only for a few months but shortly after moving in, newburger was driving down sunset boulevard when his cell phone rang. >> as i was about to hit it it slipped down, i wept oh, to save it real quick, going 40 miles an hour, tug of the wheel, look up all four tires jumped the sidewalk, guy leaped three feet out of the way or i would have killed him and missed the telephone pole by an inch. i called him up saying i'm sitting on a sidewalk on sunset boulevard on all four tires, almost killed a human and hit a pole we bought the book "inventing for dummies". >> one of those yellow books. >> did you ral >> truly. >> reporter: the key to success was creating a hole to loop the device around the anchor to move back and forth with the seat is

and then asked eight friends for money to launch the business and came up with a name. >> all right how does it work >> reporter: it took three years and nearly a million dollars to bring drop stop to market. >> oh, my god! it's a miracle >> reporter: but the whole business nearly crashed. manufacturing errors, delays, and the lowest moment was when jeffrey simon withdrew the last of his inheritance to pay a loan. >> now i have to take out another $350,000, a huge penalty. >> a historic day. >> reporter: this is simon in the bank preparing to withdraw the money. what he doesn't know is that newburger just got an e-mail saying their patent was approved >> our patent has just gotten approved >> oh, yeah. >> are you being serious >> yes. >> you got an e-mail >> yes. >> oh, my [ bleep ] god. >> reporter: it all worked out >> one day this is all going to be an amazing story and we're going to have maybe that

beachhouse >> we'll use one of the couch patches to put in a frame. >> reporter: they have sold over $33 million worth of drop stops on amazon, qvc and walmart, a shark tank investment. why is mark still sleeping on jeffery's coach? partly because they're those kind of guise guys, not really into money they have eight investors, they promised all eight without realizing what they were saying, all eight a million dollars each, and so they're still paying them back as they pay themselves they really like rewarding people who believe in them. >> they bought inventing for dummies. so many people have this idea of something that would come in handy and they sort of rig up something that works you never really think about turning it into a business how did they invent this >> they ended up kind of having an epiphany going to the big box store and buying a bunch of

stuff for a buck a piece, dumping it on the floor of an apartment, asking a higher power to figure it out in those were black dress socks and a car wash sponge, put the sponge in the sock and it fit in that crevice, although the key is that pull that goes over the seat belt latch and they patented that. >> i love your story, jane love you thank you. >> thank you that is the show for today i'm contessa brewer. thank you so much for joining us becky will be back next week next week how women can close the gender gap when it comes to earning and saving each week keep it right here we are "on the money." have a great one we'll see you next weekend

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