this is "nightline." >> tonight, crooks cleaning up with apparent counterfeit products. fake tide, downy and more. what you see isn't what you get. >> if you made just as much money selling counterfeit tide as heroin, what would you choose? >> tonight we' investigators cracking down on dodgy detergent, putting it to the test. a star is bred. herman the hood is on a roll shoring major endorsement deals and turning his owner's life upside down. >> herman and i, we're going to take on the world, right, buddy? >> how does a pint-sized pooch get insta-famous? a lovely lady. ? who was bringing up three very lovely girls ? >> remembering america's iconic tv mom, "brady bunch" actress

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good evening. thank you for joining us. you've heard of knock-off bags, counterfeit couture, fake relekdss.

alleged dirty dealings when it comes to laundry detergent. cleaning up at your expense. here's abc's nick watt with another look at the investigation. >> we need to be quick and thorough and hit them hard. >> reporter: california, early morning armed officers swoop. >> the troops are rolling in. >> reporter: they're not after drugs, weapons, moonshine. oh, no. today the l.a. county sheriff's department is on the scent of -- dodgy detergent. reportedly stolen speedboat, medical hardware and coffee pots -- buckets and buckets of apparently counterfeit tide. in the office, fake labels for fake gain? >> this might be the distribution center? >> it is. it is. >> reporter: tide in five-gallon buckets. why do we think it's fake? >> there's no such thing here. that's what's crazy. >> there is no such product? >> there's no such thing. they do not make this.

five-gallon buckets. >> reporter: the alleged contraband is sent to the lab to find out what it is, if it ain't tide. >> without sounding scary the rifrgs are large. we just don't know. you don't know where it came from. like putting your family in a car that you had no idea who made it or where it came from. >> reporter: we'll follow that trail in a minute. counterfeiting they say is a nearly $500 billion a year business. >> hundreds and hundreds of labels. >> reporter: the proctor and gamble has helped identify and close 50 factories cranking out counterfeit goods. >> be cognizant of that, be safe. >> reporter: the boys in blue have a nearby address. one step closer they hope to the mr. big to another factory. >> when we find the source of this we're going to find some kind of organized criminal organization. >> reporter: i'm riding with vet rant lieutenant jeffrey diedrich. >> bodies trashed.

one shoulder surgery, broken this hand three times. >> from? stuff on the job? >> yeah. >> reporter: he now heads the l.a. county sheriff's counterfeit and piracy team. laundry detergent -- >> you can smell it. i don't get it. >> reporter: cigarettes, alcohol. detergent? >> if we're driving around with a kilo of cocaine, we're nervous. these guys are driving around vanloads of this stuff every day like nothing. if you m selling counterfeit tide as heroin? what would you choose? the tide. you're not going to do 40 years in prison. >> reporter: the math goes something like this. dealers buy the stuff for maybe $5 a bucket, and we found it for sale online for at least five times that. 25 bucks for that one. here's another one. $35 for that. within 20 miles of where i am right now, i'm being offered

four -- four different sellers. >> we started seeing this really escalate starting about a year ago. it's showing up all over the place. and the social media is the enabler. >> reporter: in places like texas, illinois, manhattan, where we found this ad offering samples and a free laundry bag with the purchase of six gallons. >> the product comes in a five-gallon bucket. that's a huge tip-off that the product is illegal, counterfeit. we don't sell product in five-gallon buckets to the public. >> reporter: procter & gamble does not sell downey or gain in five-gallon buckets either. so this, this, and this they say must be fake. detergent seize in california has now been analyzed at procter & gamble's lab in cincinnati. >> it actually looks and smells kind of like detergent. but we found it had very high water content. >> reporter: fake but effective? >> this is a chocolate pudding stain on a t-shirt or on a

that gets washed in water. this was washed in the counterfeit detergent. and this was washed in the tide liquid. when you actually use the counterfeit detergent, you can see that it's not that much different than just using water by itself. >> we're here to discuss the impact of counterfeits on consumer health and safety -- >> reporter: earlier this year, a procter & gamble executive testified before congress on the issue. >> p and g takes counterfeiting counterfeiting is consumer fraud, lane and simple. >> reporter: the company is fighting back, hunting down leads and handing their findings to law enforcement. >> we realize this was something that it was -- that we couldn't handle ourselves. but we were really concerned about what kind of fraud was happening here with our consumers. >> we get tips from the community. we get tips from private investigation firms. we get tips from citizens. in this situation, the tip came

watching now is hidden camera footage shot by a procter & gamble hired investigator on a recon mission at that warehouse in compton. that's the man diedrich and his men just arrested. sticking fake downy labels on buckets filled with apparently fake downy fabric softener. investigators believe crooks are selling mostly online. >> with the explosion of social media and the internet, it's really taken off. it's become a real problem. >> reporter: and some people are selling it without not the real deal. >> fund-raiser for spain trip for my daughter. my son's baseball team is se selling five-gallon buckets of laundry detergent. fund raise are for my day care, tide. no generic homemade stuff, claiming this is the real deal. it's not. >> there's one here for a student ministry. so these are, you know, highly lucrative fund-raisers for these

it becomes a really emotional situation for everybody involved. >> reporter: okay, back on the front line on the streets of l.a. >> this is a unique caper here. >> reporter: go ahead rick and his men are chasing down a lead, an address they picked up during the warehouse raid earlier. >> it's all cash. so you always have the propensity for some kind of armed robbery or some kind of robbery to steal the money. and the person selling the product is going to have to defend it. >> reporter: here we simultaneous raids this morning and at this house they found a lot of money. a suburban home. yep, apparently counterfeit detergent, and maybe $10,000 in cash. plus a firearm. sheriff's department thinks it's loot and laundry. a unique caper indeed. i'm nick watt for "nightline" in los angeles. up next, talk about a good

owner thousands of dollars as an instagram star. and later, a tribute to "brady bunch" star florence henderson, america's favorite tv mom. ? all of them had hair of gold like their mother ? ? the youngest one in curls ? erc plaque psoriasis made a simple trip to the grocery store anything but simple. so i had an important conversation with my dermatologist about humira. he explained that humira works inside my body of inflammation that contributes to my symptoms. in clinical trials, most adults taking humira were clear or almost clear, and many saw 75% and even 90% clearance in just 4 months. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure.

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it's been said dogs are man's best friend. in this case it's quite true. the yorkshire terrier revved up his owner's social life, raking in big money on instagram.

juju chang in another installment of "social stars." >> reporter: this is herman. he's a 1-year-old maltese yorkie. he loves running. snacking. >> good boy. >> reporter: and hoodies. >> there it is. >> reporter: oh, yeah. he also likes posing for photos, of course. herman is what you'd call a doggy influencer, modeling urban streetwear has garnered him over 40,000 fallers on instagram and made hip the furry face of big- caesar and van's. it's turned this four-pound furry ball of cuteness into a social media celebrity. >> let's change. >> reporter: herman's owner, david yip, a 37-year-old bachelor, an overworked sales manager who says this little pooch changed his life. >> he's the first dog i've ever had. i was in a client's office last year. they asked me to dogsit a couple of weeks when they went on family vacation. when he had to go home i was a little bummed out.

lucky, he was the last left out of the litter. >> reporter: david rediscovered his youthful love of photography. >> i started taking pictures of him. >> reporter: a two-pound puppy. >> the pictures started getting popular so i started his own instagram. people started liking it online. >> reporter: boom, an instagram star is born. it's the secret sauce to social success. one part adorable pet, two parts cute clothing, three parts great lighting. and voila, a pic made for instagram. with the world-class caption game. "hey, what's cooking? "posing with great goose, "who wants to pawty with me?" sitting at the "nightline" even correspond desk? really, you have to be this cute all the time? >> good captioning is important. it's telling a story, still giving somebody else that reason to tune in. >> reporter: kyla runs hello society, an agency that represents social media stars of all kinds. why are we obsessed with animals on social media?

reaction to cute. it elicits these actual warm fuzzy feelings in us. >> reporter: it was kyla's team that discovered david and herman in toronto. >> how can you not look at herman and love him? he's this tiny adorable fluffball that wears hoodieses. >> how does it get big? >> their owners are incredible activers. the sets and the the stories and every photo is really different. >> reporter: keeping it going against stardom. does grumpy cat and gifpalm ring a bell? they fetch major deals for owners. when you get to be a top dog in a doggy influencer market you get the glam treatment. cocktail hours. the finest doggy treats money can buy. and rubbing elbows as it were with golden doodles in spiffy suits. rocker dogs in bark sabbath jean jackets. these dogs on the catwalk famous

impressive social media following. >> this is iggy zoe, 35,000 followers on instagram. >> 127,000 followers. >> reporter: even though they're just starting out, david says herman's instagram presence has brought in deals close to $10,000. but for david, herman is enriching his life in ways money can't buy. >> herman definitely helped me get away from my workaholicism. herman and i are going to take on >> reporter: helping redy cover all passions. sprucing up his social life. >> does it concern you at all that people might be going out and grabbing pets just to try to turn them into insta famous pets? >> it's very hard to make an animal famous on instagram. it's a full-time job. >> reporter: could it really be that hard to make cute animals famous? i policied a hypothetical challenge, could they make a

>> she's got step one covered, she is insanely adorable. number two, good grooming. >> okay, come on. let's go. hi, how are you? you're going in a labradoodle, you're going to come out a star. right now she doesn't want to be internet famous. >> i guess that's what it takes to be a social media star. >> she's a look out, world, here we come. my hershey in all her fluffy cuteness seems more interested in chilling than stardom. >> this is why she can't be insta famous, she doesn't take commands. you're the perfect dog, you even pooped, this is why i love you. oh, well, it's a dog's life. for "nightline" i'm juju chang in new york. next, celebrating the life of america's tv mother, "brady bunch" star and "dancing with

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