LOUISVILLE, Ky. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized seven shipments and found 54 counterfeit designer watches worth $26.86 million if authentic.
The Louisville officers determined the watches originated from Hong Kong and Turkey and were destined for residential addresses in Florida and Michigan.
CBP said one of the more notable seizure contained 21 counterfeit Richard Mille watches that was destined for an address in Miami. This shipment would have been worth $25.56 million if authentic.
The other shipments contained 33 more counterfeit designer watches that would have been worth more than $1.3 million if they were real.
“This is a significant seizure for CBP, but unfortunately, CBP officers see counterfeit shipments like this every day,” Field Operations-Chicago Director LaFonda Sutton-Burke said. “Counterfeit goods like this, come in by the truck-load on a nightly basis all across the nation threatening businesses and conning the consumer.”
This new seizure comes after Sept. 10 when officers CBP seized 2,168 counterfeit designer watches with a value of $57.84 million.
Counterfeit watches and jewelry are one of the top seized counterfeit products by CBP, with more than a quarter of the counterfeit goods coming from Hong Kong. Counterfeit watches and jewelry make up almost half of the total MSRP of seized goods (an average of $650 million over the last two years). Sold in underground outlets and on third party e-commerce websites, counterfeit commodities fund smugglers and members of organized crime.
Learn more about CBP at www.CBP.gov.
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