For a buyer, there is no such thing as a counterfeit stock. Unlike cash, they are simply a digital asset, anymore. If someone was out there selling stock certs that were counterfeit that would be different, but certs seem to be a thing of the past and you seem to be referring to stock purchased through a brokerage, anyway. In which case everyone who owns stock is relatively easy to account for and the SEC should have no problem identifying how much stock is sold, owned and in float or not distributed. The fact that the powers that be say there is no short should be verifiable by them. And anyone who owns stock is entitled to any dividend or other distribution. Which is why brokerages will not risk the loss by selling stock that doesn't exist. Most 'short' transactions are people who own non float shares selling them into the float. Which is why there hasn't been reported short here for a few years, now. If short activity increases, again, you can be sure that management is, once again, sticking it to the shareholders. Imo, of course
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