Federal raids at both the Long Beach Seaport and Ontario International Airport have resulted in the feds seizing nearly $400,000 in counterfeit Apple products, including fake Apple Watches and AirPods.
NBC Los Angeles reports:
The counterfeit items, which included phony Apple watches and wireless earphones, were “concealed in generic packaging,” according to Jaime Ruiz of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The items included 220 “wrist wearable devices” and 1,200 pairs of wireless headphones, Ruiz said.
Federal authorities say the counterfeit devices arrived from Hong Kong in six separate shipments. All of the shipments were intercepted during a single week in July 2023.
“If genuine, the seized products would have had an estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $396,812,” said Jaime Ruiz of US Customs and Border Protection. Ruiz added that each item was “concealed in generic packaging.”
There are no details of the individual raids or how the shipments in Long Beach and Ontario were detected.
This is just the latest seizure of counterfeit Apple items, as we’ve seen several raids and such over the years as authorities continue to fight the counterfeiting of products from Apple and other legitimate electronics manufacturers.
In March 2023, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized 1,000+ pairs of counterfeit AirPods Pro 2 devices worth more than $290,000 on the street from Washington Dulles International Airport.
Investigators on March 15 inspected four shipments bound for Fairfax County, Virginia, and found more than 1,000 counterfeit AirPods and 50 replica Apple Watches. As is usual for counterfeit devices and accessories, the products were shipped from China. The counterfeiters would have made more than $290,000 if they sold the goods at Apple’s suggested retail price.
Anyone with information about suspected fraud or illegal trade activity was urged to call 800-BE-ALERT.
People may also report intellectual property rights violations to the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center or call 866-IPR-2060.
