Nearly 300 shipments containing more than $13 million in counterfeit consumer merchandise were seized by airport officials last year.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection display counterfeit items on Friday, March 29, 2024, during a roadshow demonstration highlighting some of the wildest counterfeit items seized at the PHL Airport and Port in recent years.Joshua Mason has seen a lot of counterfeit items during his 18 years with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Philadelphia.
In a Philadelphia International Airport terminal Friday, the supervisory CBP officer stood by a table of some recent counterfeit seizures: Eagles and Phillies jerseys, spark plugs, Super Bowl rings, designer handbags, a World Cup trophy, and fake IDs taken from packages destined for college towns.seized 287 shipments containing more than $13 million in counterfeit consumer merchandise. Across all ports nationwide, the agency seizes about $7.7 million in counterfeit goods every day.
“You might not think it’s a big deal, but where does that money go to on the back end,” Mason said. “And what is the quality of that merchandise and how does that affect the end user or the public?” “I might think I’m getting a great deal on this,” he added, gesturing to the Phillies and Eagles jerseys. “I want a deal just like everybody else. But when I’m wearing that, it’s inferior. Is it giving me a rash? When I wash it, does it fall apart?”Most of the items were seized as cargo, either from the belly of planes that landed at the airport or from ships that docked at
. The packages that are flagged as potentially counterfeit are usually larger, commercial-sized shipments that may contain hundreds of items to be distributed to U.S. consumers. Once seized, counterfeit items go through a forfeiture process, and are then destroyed.“If I’m purchasing something, I’d go right from the source,” he added. If you go with a third-party seller, “you don’t know if they’re nefarious. You don’t know if they’re a poor actor or if they’re a legitimate company.
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