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Sometimes, probably more often than one might expect, criminals try something so bold that it boggles the mind. Case in point: someone tried recently to smuggle over $30 million worth of fake jewelry into the United States by mailing it to a residence in Miami. Were they deliberately trying to be caught?
The fake goods were discovered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Louisville last week when they inspected a shipment arriving from Hong Kong. The shipment, which was listed as a “metal necklace” on the manifest, weighed 56 pounds. Nothing suspicious about any of that, right?
Upon further examination by the CBP agents, the shipment was found to actually contain 7,319 pairs of earrings bearing the marks of Van Cleef and Arpels Alhambra. After being inspected by the CBP Centers of Excellence and Expertise, the agency’s trade experts, it was determined that not only were they fake, had they been real they would have had a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $30.37 million.
CBP
“Legitimate trade powers the U.S. economy, but counterfeit and pirated goods dampen our economic successes, fund criminal networks, and threaten consumer trust and safety,” LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, Director of Field Operations, Chicago Field Office, said in a statement. “As consumers increasingly purchase from online or third-party vendors, our officers are at the frontline to guard against defrauders expecting to make money selling fake merchandise.”
Most commonly smuggled counterfeit items
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that over the past three years, the commodities with the highest total MSRP seized for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) infringement have been jewelry, watches, and handbags/wallets. In addition to that, China and Hong Kong are “consistently the top two source countries for IPR seizures.”
Other counterfeit items that are often being smuggled into the United States include medications, memorabilia, and clothing.
“Commonly, these goods are sold in underground outlets and on third party e-commerce websites,” the CBP states. “Counterfeit commodities fund smugglers and members of organized crime.”
In 2023, federal agents seized around 219,000 counterfeit luxury products in a single operation from a storage facility in Manhattan worth a record $1.03 billion on the black market.