apple: 36,000 fake Apple AirPods coming from China seized in US – Times of India

A large cache consisting of three large shipments of fake Apple AirPods has been seized by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Cincinnati. The shipments were found to be holding fake products worth around $7.16 million; they were coming from China. The total number of fake AirPods that have been seized stands at 36,000, with 12,000 in each shipment. The shipments were going to an address in Dayton, KY.
According to the CBP’s website post, it consulted “an import specialist from CBP’s Center of Excellence and Expertise” on the products. Once they started checking, “the items were found to be in violation of CBP trademark and copyright code” The items were declared seized on May 11 and 13.
The website post notes, “Apple has configuration trademarks on their AirPods and has recorded those trademarks with CBP. Furthermore, a company does not have to put the “Apple” wordmark or design on their products to violate these trademarks. In this instance, further inspection of the earbuds revealed that their shape and design replicated the protected Apple configuration.”
The post also says that each came with a declared value of $5,280 but the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price for all the AirPods would have been $7.16 million had all of them been genuine.
The AirPods are one of the most popular products from the tech giant. Apple shipped close to 114 million units of the true wireless earbuds last year. The CBP has asked people to be aware of fake products around them. It has advised consumers to stay up to date with the list of authorised retailers of a certain product by the company they want to buy and not to purchase them from unauthorised vendors. It also advises them to “read all labels and check serial numbers or other forms of authentication with manufacturer databases” before buying. And lastly, to use their common sense when it comes to the prices as counterfeit merchandise is usually cheaper.