U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Cincinnati have seized more than 1,300 fake championship rings over the past three months.
Officers were able to seize 56 separate shipments of the counterfeit rings, according to a CBP media release. If the rings were real, they would have been worth $982,263.
During the months of October through December 2021, Cincinnati CBP officers intercepted 56 shipments of counterfeit championship rings. A total of 1,382 rings and trophies were seized. Had the goods been authentic, the MSRP would be $982K.
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— CBP (@CBP) January 5, 2022
The shipments were originally from China and intended for locations across the U.S. Some of the rings were for more recent World Series wins by the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively, as well as the University of Kentucky’s national championship title in basketball.
“Part of CBP’s mission is to protect American consumers from purchasing these counterfeit products,” Director of CBP Field Operations-Chicago LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke said in the press release. “This seizure illustrates our commitment to stopping counterfeit products from China and protecting our nation’s economy and consumers from those intent on defrauding businesses and consumers alike.”
Throughout fiscal year 2020, CBP helped seize 26,503 shipments of goods that violated intellectual property rights, according to the release. If the seized items were real, they would have been worth more than $1.3 billion. (RELATED: US Customs And Border Protection Agents Seize Almost 200 Pounds Of Bologna)
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, CBP seized around 13 million counterfeit masks and other pandemic-related supplies from China.