CBP Seizes Millions in Fake Sports Apparel Prior to Super Bowl

US Customs and Border Patrol announced this week the seizure of a huge shipment of fake or counterfeit sports apparel.

   The shipment was captured in Cincinnati

Prior to the Super Bowl, CBP agents seized 85 shipments that contained at least 4,100 items that were found to be fake replicas of licensed sports apparel.

Agents said the items included NFL, MLB, and MLS jerseys, as well as jewelry, bags, hats, coins, and more.

The items, if they were legitimate, would have had a retail value of at least $1.4 million.  Often, these items are sold at or just below the price of officially licensed items, so the scammers still make profits similar to those made by legitimate vendors.

One of the shipments contained 80 Las Vegas Raiders commemorative coins that were deceptively realistic, their 'legal' retail value would have been around $3,200.

Another shipment had 127 Baltimore Ravens jerseys that were bound for a location in Florida, their 'legit' retail value would have been over $27,000.

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The shipments came from Hong Kong and China, according to CBP.:

"These packages contained merchandise that infringed on the protected trademarks of professional sports teams such as Detroit Lions, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Al-Nassr FC, Atlanta Braves, and Seattle Mariners to name a few."