LOUISVILLE, Ky—Counterfeit products continue to arrive at the Express Consignment Operations mailing facility in Louisville, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers are ready to seize them. On June 30, officers in Louisville intercepted two packages that contained 648 counterfeit belts.
A shipper in Hong Kong sent two packages to a residence in New York. When the packages arrived, CBP officers noticed the shipment was coming from a known counterfeit shipper. When officers opened the first shipment, six boxes were inside containing a total of 432 Gucci belts. The second package from Hong Kong contained 72 more Gucci belts and 144 Salvatore Ferragamo belts. If these belts were real, the total MSRP for these belts would have been $350,496.
“Consumers need to ensure the items they purchase are legitimate products,” said Thomas Mahn, Port Director, Louisville. “When consumers purchase these items they are funding criminal activities. Our CBP officers continue to seize items that infringe on U.S. intellectual property laws, protecting businesses, jobs and consumers.”
CBP protects businesses and consumers every day through an aggressive Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement program. Importation of counterfeit merchandise can cause significant revenue loss, damage the U.S. economy, and threaten the health and safety of the American people.
On a typical day in 2019, CBP officers seized $4.3 million worth of products with Intellectual Property Rights violations. Learn more about what CBP did during "A Typical Day" in 2019.
CBP officers and Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) agents seized 27,599 shipments containing counterfeit goods in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, down from 33,810 seizures in FY 2018. However, the total estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of the seized goods, had they been genuine, increased to over $1.5 billion from nearly $1.4 billion in FY 2018.
E- Commerce sales have contributed to large volumes of low-value packages imported into the United States. In FY 2019, there were 144 million express shipments and 463 million international mail shipments. Over 90 percent of all intellectual property seizures occur in the international mail and express environments.
The People’s Republic of China (mainland China and Hong Kong) remained the primary source economy for seized counterfeit and pirated goods, accounting for 83 percent of all IPR seizures and 92 percent of the estimated MSRP value of all IPR seizures.
Read CBP’s Intellectual Property Seizure Report for Fiscal Year 2019 for more IPR stats and analysis.
CBP's border security mission is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations. Please visit CBP Ports of Entry to learn more about how CBP’s Office of Field Operations secures our nation’s borders. Learn more about CBP at www.CBP.gov.