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Nov 25, 2009 6:19 pm US/Central
Feds In Minn. Seize Over $600,000 In Fake Goods
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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The items include perfume, clothing, purses, batteries, jewelry, shoes and many other products. They bear brand names like Gucci, Coach and Tiffany.
CBS
Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized over 17,000 counterfeit items from Twin Cities-area businesses last week, with an estimated street value of $643,000.
The seizure was announced Wednesday. Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Bloomington, says it's the largest one his office has done in the three years he's been here.
"The consumer is being defrauded," he said. "They think they're buying the genuine article and they're not."
He says the investigation is ongoing.
The seized items include counterfeit perfume, clothing, purses, batteries, jewelry, shoes and many other products. They bear brand names like Gucci, Coach and Tiffany. They were taken from 21 Twin Cities-area businesses.
Counterfeiting and piracy costs the U.S. economy between $200 billion and $250 billion per year, and more than 750,000 American jobs.
But still more sinister is the gap this kind of trafficking poses to our nation's import system.
"That infrastructure can be used to smuggle anything in, not just jerseys and bottles of perfume. It could be used to smuggle in weapons of mass destruction," Arnold said.
Some counterfeits are dead giveways -- like the packages of Duracell batteries ICE displayed on the table. On the cardboard label it not only had the Duracell name, but also a pink "Energizer" bunny logo.
Agents say consumers should look for tight shrink wrapping on perfume bottle packaging. Counterfeit products often have sloppy or loose shrink wrap, inconsistent printing and ink or paper colors. Furthermore, the date code that is printed on the package should match a date code on the actual perfume bottle.
As for designer purses and handbags, make sure the stitching is uniform and the materials are authentic leather, not artificial. Also, metal buckles may appear to have sharp edges on counterfeit items.
With authentic professional and college sports jerseys, both pricey and popular, ICE agents recommend consumers look for quality and consistent stitching with no bare threads and no fragments of backing on the underside of numbers or the embroidery.
The bottom line is for the buyer to beware -- there's often a good reason you're paying a fraction of full retail.
"If a price is too good to be true on a product, it's too good to be true," Arnold said.
Shoppers who suspect counterfeit merchandise are asked to contact the agency's 24-hour toll-free hotline, at 1-866-347-2423.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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