$2 Million Worth Of Fake Watches Seized By Cincinnati CBP

“As trade grows at unprecedented rates, our officers are working hard to identify threats and shut down illicit suppliers.”

Photo by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

(Cincinnati, Oh.) - U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Cincinnati stopped two shipments containing counterfeit watches. 

Over the past two weeks, officers stopped these packages labeled as “timers” and “watch,” with listed values of $33 and $200. Inside, 54 counterfeit Audemars Piguet, Rolex, Cartier, and Gucci watches were found.  If genuine, the packages would have been worth $1.9 million. 

The shipments were coming from China with final destinations of Jersey City, New Jersey and Mobile, Alabama.

Intellectual property rights (IPR) protection continues to be a priority trade issue for CBP.

In 2019, CBP and Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) stopped and seized 27,599 shipments with IPR violations with a MSRP of over $1.5 billion if the products had been genuine.

Goods like watches and jewelry continue to hold the top spot of all seized IPR materials, representing 15 percent of all IPR seized items. 

“Legitimate cross-border trade powers the U.S. economy,” said Cincinnati Port Director Richard Gillespie. “As trade grows at unprecedented rates, our officers are working hard to identify threats and shut down illicit suppliers.”