When something is of low quality or a fake ripoff in Argentina they call it trucho. This can be used for something that is not what it seems; i.e., a pirate taxi company. Apparently this word is used in Uruguay in the same way. Does anyone know of other countries that use trucho like this? In Mexico we would say that something is a producto chino if it was cheap in price and quality.
In northern Mexico you can use trucho or trucha if you want someone to pay attention for something that could be fake, dangerous, corrupt, etc.
You could say “Ponte trucho” (pay attention) to someone else and expect the other person to look for something fake, dangerous, etc.