U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers assigned to the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex intercepted a pair of cargo shipments from China filled with 39,243 counterfeit designer goods, CBP revealed Aug. 26.
With the help of import specialists from the Consumer Products and Mass Merchandising and Apparel, Footwear and Textiles Centers of Excellence and Expertise and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the officers on July 19 and July 30 confiscated footwear, purses, wallets and accessories pretending to be Burberry, Chanel, Fendi, Prada, Louis Vuitton and other luxury brands.
The goods, if real, would have retailed for $53.7 million, the agency said.
“The size of these fraudulent shipments clearly demonstrates the greed and risks transnational criminal organizations are willing to take in order to increase their illicit profits,” said Carlos C. Martel, director of field operations in Los Angeles.”
Nationally in Fiscal Year 2020, CBP intercepted 26,503 shipments filled with fake products valued at close to $1.3 billion had they been genuine.
“Illicit goods trafficked to American consumers by e-commerce platforms and online third-party marketplaces threaten public health and safety, as well as national security,” said Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport Port Director Donald R. Kusser. “Counterfeit goods unfairly compete with legitimate products and reduce the incentives to innovate, both in the United States and abroad.”
