For the third time in a month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in Kentucky seized tens of millions of dollars worth of counterfeit watches. This time, the CBP officers at the Port of Louisville intercepted a shipment containing $43 million worth of fakes.
The CBP officers made the discovery on July 31 when they pulled the package for inspection as it was on its way from Hong Kong to a Houston home. The examination of the package revealed 300 luxury Audemars Piguet watches.
CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise, the agency’s trade experts, determined that the goods bore counterfeit versions of registered and recorded trademarks, so agents confiscated them for being inauthentic.
The shipment’s total manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) would have exceeded $43 million if the watches had been authentic.
“It is important for consumers to become aware that criminals try to scam shoppers into buying low quality and potentially dangerous counterfeit items,” said Louisville’s Port Director, Philip Onken. “Our officers do an incredible job targeting shipments and identifying these violations, working tirelessly every day to protect the consumer and our economy.”
The past 30 days have been very costly for counterfeiters
Earlier in July, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Port of Louisville seized another 200 luxury watches bearing counterfeit Audemars Piguet trademarks. That shipment of counterfeit watches also originated in Hong Kong and was en route to Illinois when CBP officers pulled the parcel for inspection. The shipment would have had a total manufacturer’s suggested retail price of more than $28 million if the watches were authentic.
Just a few weeks prior to that, CBP officers at the Port of Louisville intercepted a shipment that contained 375 counterfeit watches. They were also Audemars Piguet watches bearing counterfeit versions of registered trademarks. This time, someone was shipping them from Hong Kong to a home in New York. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for that shipment would have been more than $54 million if the timepieces had been real.