Feds seize $400,000 worth of counterfeit Apple devices

AppleInsider

Counterfeit Apple products including AirPods and hundreds of the Apple Watch worth almost $400,000 have been seized in Federal raids at both the Long Beach Seaport and Ontario International Airport.

Counterfeit Apple Watch (source: NBC)

Federal authorities have announced that the counterfeit devices arrived from Hong Kong in six separate shipments. They were all intercepted in one week in July 2023.

According to NBC Los Angeles, the items included 1,200 AirPods, and what are described by the authorities as 220 "wrist wearable devices."

"If genuine, the seized products would have had an estimated manufacturer's suggested retail price of $396,812," said Jaime Ruiz of US Customs and Border Protection. Ruiz added that each item was "concealed in generic packaging."

Counterfeit AirPods (Source: NBC)

There are no details of the individual raids or how the shipments in Long Beach and Ontario were detected.

The volume is not dissimilar to a similar bust in Washington DC in March. In that series of confiscations, 1,000 AirPods Pros and 50 Apple Watches were seized, for a total of $290,000 if they were sold at full retail price.

How to spot counterfeits

Fortunately, there are ways to tell the differences between genuine and counterfeit AirPods.

First, check to ensure the plastic wrapping is tight around the package, as some counterfeits can include thinner plastic that may be loose in places. Next, the getting started guide may also be made of thinner paper than the genuine version.

On the AirPods, the text may be darker, with protruding buttons that differ from Apple's precision. The ear tips can also be stiffer than the silicone that Apple uses.

Additionally, after pairing the AirPods to an iPhone, be sure to enter the serial number from Settings into Apple's website. It will likely say it's a genuine serial number, but the coverage has expired.

The best way to purchase genuine AirPods is to buy products from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller.

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williamh

The counterfeit AirPods are all over the place around the world.  At the Marche aux Puces de le Porte de Vanves market in Paris, you will be surrounded by people trying sell "new" "Airpods" for like 40 euros.  The pawnshops of the UK have either been fooled (doubtful) or they're in on it and selling fake AirPods.  Facebook Marketplace in the US - tons of "brand new" AirPods for $60.  The fakes look really close.  They'll definitely improve the plastic wrapping - hell, that's much easier than all the stuff the fakers already did.  
 

Appleish

I have been buying 100% of my Apple product purchases directly from Apple for many years because of this. Counterfeiters are basically duplicating Apple's production methods, minus their strict standards. Glad to have an Apple Card to save a bit off the prices plus zero percent interest.

jfabula1

Even Amazon sells Apple counterfeit products….the good thing is it’s easy to return. Beware, there are even fake rice, now imagine that, unfortunately it came
from the same place

shamino

No disagreement with the text of the article, but I'm surprised about the topmost photo shown.  That watch looks very much like an Apple watch, but the packaging doesn't seem to have any Apple branding, calling itself "smart fitness gear".

IMO, if you don't use someone else's branding, then you're not selling a counterfeit.  Even if the product looks similar.

WRT Amazon, their problem is that they co-mingle products from multiple sellers.  If 50 sellers, including Amazon are all selling a particular product via Amazon fulfilment, Amazon will combine the stock from all the sellers.  This isn't a problem when all the sellers are legitimate, but it's a nightmare when some are crooked, because you have no idea what you're going to get and careful investigation of the seller is pointless.

I got burned by this a few times last year when I was trying to buy some Blu-Ray movies.  I got obviously used and damaged items (missing download codes, missing insert cards, serious scratches on the discs, the wrong discs in the box, etc.), even when the purchase was "sold by Amazon".  Because some crooked sellers are re-wrapping their returns, selling them as new, and Amazon co-mingles it with legitimate stock.

Because of this, I no longer buy older titles from Amazon.  Only new releases (where hopefully there isn't enough time to pack the warehouses with returns).  For anything older, I go looking at other web sites where (hopefully) this nonsense doesn't happen.