Customs and Border Protection seizes nearly $400,000 in fake Apple watches, AirPods from Hong Kong

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers based in California seized nearly $400,000 worth of counterfeit Apple watches and AirPods from Hong Kong, officials said. 

The products arrived in six individual airplane shipments to the Ontario International Airport and a maritime container to the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport over the course of a week last month, the Homeland Security agency said Tuesday.

Coordinating with import specialists from the agency's Electronics Center of Excellence and Expertise, border officers seized 1,200 pairs of wireless headphones and 220 wrist devices that infringed registered Apple copyrights and trademarks, according to officials.

If the items were genuine Apple products, the manufacturer's suggested retail price would total $396,812. The fake products included the Apple Watch, Apple Ultra Watch, AirPods and AirPods Pro.

In an attempt to avoid detection, the products were concealed in generic packages, the U.S. agency said.

"Because they look and feel incredibly similar to legitimate Apple products, consumers are easily deceived by scammers," Los Angeles CBP Field Operations Director Carlos Martel said.

The fake Apple products do not have the advanced features that genuine ones have, such as water resistance, noise cancellation and easy connectivity to other Apple devices.

U.S. customs agents seized counterfeit goods seized last fiscal year that would have been worth nearly $3 billion if they were genuine.

Another massive seizure of counterfeit Apple products from China occurred in 2021 when U.S. officials seized three shipments of AirPods that would have been valued at more than $7 million if genuine.

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