Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Your team just won the Super Bowl. If you’re a fan of a team that notched its first ever Lombardi trophy, like the Philadelphia Eagles, you might want to buy a replica championship ring to bask in the euphoria. The $10,000 cost for an authorized replica sounds steep, but you find one for $25 on an internet store. The deal sounds too good to be true, and it is. The rings are counterfeit, and stand a good chance of being seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) trade enforcement officers.
CBP officers seized one such shipment of 108 Super Bowl rings, June 29, that if authentic, had an MSRP of $1,080,000. The rings represented many Super Bowl champions, including the Eagles.
The express consignment parcel arrived June 18 from Hong Kong manifested as alloy rings. CBP officers noted the poor craftsmanship and detained the rings to verify authenticity with the National Football League, the trademark holder. The NFL confirmed the rings as fakes.
"Customs and Border Protection officers are like offensive linemen in that both are on the frontline and work hard to protect something important. CBP officers intercept counterfeit products at our nation’s Ports of Entry before they could harm U.S. consumers or businesses,” said Casey Durst, CBP Director of Field Operations in Baltimore. "We will remain vigilant and we will continue to advance our detection capabilities in order to secure our homeland and keep our communities safe and our economy prosperous."
CBP has designated Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement as a Priority Trade Issue. Importation of counterfeit merchandise can cause significant revenue loss, damage the U.S. economy and threaten the health and safety of American people.
On a typical day in 2017, CBP officers seized $3.3 million worth of products with IPR violations. Learn more about what CBP did during "A Typical Day" in 2017.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, the number of IPR seizures increased 8 percent to 34,143 from 31,560 in FY 2016. The total estimated MSRP of the seized goods, had they been genuine, decreased to $1.2 billion from $1.38 billion in FY 2016. Read more 2017 IPR Enforcement Statistics.
As a result of CBP enforcement efforts, ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested 457 individuals, obtained 288 indictments, and received 242 convictions related to intellectual property crimes in 2017.
If you have information concerning counterfeit merchandise illegally imported into the United States, CBP encourages you to submit an anonymous report through e-Allegations Online Trade Violation Reporting System.
CBP’s Office of Field Operations
Almost a million times each day, CBP officers welcome international travelers into the U.S. In screening both foreign visitors and returning U.S. citizens, CBP uses a variety of techniques to intercept narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, prohibited agriculture, and other illicit products, and to assure that global tourism remains safe and strong.
