LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized two shipments containing counterfeit Louis Vuitton hats and handbags Friday, Dec. 4. Had the accessories been real, their value would have been $821,000.
What You Need To Know
- Louisville customs seizes shipments containing counterfeit Louis Vuitton hats, handbags
- Cumulative value would have been $821,000 if the accessories were real
- First shipment headed for Texas, second headed to local residence in Columbia, Ky.
The first shipment, destined for Texas, arrived from China and contained 938 counterfeit Louis Vuitton hats. The first shipment would have been worth $764,470 had the hats been genuine.
Headed for a local residence in Columbia, Ky., the second shipment arrived from Vietnam with 29 counterfeit Louis Vuitton handbags. The handbags would have been worth $56,550 if they were real.
“Criminal groups continue to send shipments like this flooding our country with fake, sometime dangerous, products,” said Port Director-Louisville Thomas Mahn. “When consumers purchase counterfeit goods, legitimate companies lose revenue, which can force those companies to cut jobs.”
In FY20, CBP seized 26,503 shipments of counterfeit goods with a cumulative price tag of $1.3 billion had they been genuine. Apparel and accessories, CBP says, are common among seizures.
As holiday shopping is well underway, CBP encourages you to be aware of counterfeit and pirated goods, especially while shopping online. The organization also has an educational initiative to raise consumer awareness about the consequences and dangers of buying counterfeit and pirated goods.
Haeli Spears is a digital producer with Spectrum News 1 Kentucky. She is a University of Louisville graduate who started her career with Spectrum News in May, 2020.