US CBP
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Port of Louisville had themselves a day when they intercepted and seized three shipments filled with fake designer jewelry.
In the span of 24 hours earlier this week, CBP officers confiscated a total of 2,387 pieces of jewelry including rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings bearing designer trademarks.
Those 2,000-plus pieces of jewelry, if genuine, would have had a combined Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of over $10.08 million.
Unfortunately for the smugglers, CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise was able to determine that they were all, in fact, fakes, and the products never made it to market.
According to a CBP press release, “On July 1, CBP seized the first shipment, which originated from China and was found to contain jewelry bearing the trademarks of famous luxury brands, including: 100 Van Cleef and Arpels necklaces, 23 Louis Vuitton necklaces, 37 Hermes necklaces, 66 Gucci necklaces, 30 Tous necklaces, 75 Dior necklaces, 8 Prada necklaces, 22 Versace necklaces, 46 Tiffany and Co necklaces, 15 Bvlgari necklaces, 9 Calvin Klein necklaces, 140 Van Cleef and Arpels bracelets, 184 Cartier bracelets, 129 Bvlgari bracelets, 47 Chanel bracelets, 53 Michael Kors bracelets, 14 Carolina Herrera bracelets, 26 Gucci bracelets, 13 Hermes bracelets, 21 Louis Vuitton bracelets, 2 Tory Burch bracelets, 3 Tous bracelets, 5 Tiffany and Co bracelets, 2 Rolex bracelets, 1 Yves Saint Laurent bracelet, 12 Louis Vuitton rings, 9 Chanel rings, 63 Cartier rings, 36 Versace rings, 18 Bvlgari rings, 79 Gucci rings, 104 Tous rings, 21 Daniel Wellington rings, 42 Calvin Klein rings, 14 Hermes rings, 4 Tiffany and Co rings, and 2 Rolex rings.”
That was just one of the shipments.
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD
In 24 hrs, Louisville @CBP officers seized 2,000+ pieces of counterfeit luxury jewelry like Cartier, Dior, Prada, Gucci & Hermes. Had they been genuine, the haul would have been valued at over $10 MILLION💎
➡️ https://t.co/dcrN7jzH9T pic.twitter.com/gkn4XLNcBk— (A)Executive Asst. Commissioner Diane J. Sabatino (@OFOEAC) July 5, 2024
On July 2, CBP seized a second shipment containing 78 bracelets, 42 necklaces and 42 pairs of earrings displaying the logos of Van Cleef and Arpels and Cartier and a third shipment with more fakes, including 140 Cartier bracelets, 220 Van Cleef and Arpels bracelets, 150 Van Cleef and Arpels necklaces, 110 Van Cleef and Arpels rings, and 140 Van Cleef and Arpels pair of earrings.
“These large seizures illustrate the work our officers do every day to protect our country, its citizens, and the economy,” said LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, Director, Field Operations, Chicago Field Office.
“Every day CBP officers are seizing these fraudulent de minimis shipments sent by bad actors. Criminals are trying to exploit the mail environment by peddling their counterfeit products. Even though this package had a low declared value, they pose the same potential health, safety, and economic security risks as larger and more traditional containerized shipments.”
In fiscal year 2023, CBP seized almost 20,000 shipments containing a total of nearly 23 million counterfeit items.
Had the seized counterfeit items been real, their total value would have been around $2.4 billion.