On Aug. 6, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Louisville, Ky., seized a package containing more than 7,000 pairs of counterfeit earrings.
The shipment originated in Hong Kong and was headed to a residence in Miami. The 56-pound package was listed as containing a “metal necklace.” When customs officers looked inside, they found 7,319 pairs of earrings bearing Van Cleef & Arpels’ iconic Alhambra design—a federally protected trademark.
The CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise eventually determined the goods were counterfeit. If they had been genuine, they would have been worth $30.37 million, based on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
A CBP statement noted that over the last three years, jewelry and watches have been the top two commodities seized for intellectual property violations. (Handbags and wallets were third.) It added that, in 2024, 90% of seized counterfeit goods came from China and Hong Kong.
Top: a pair of phony Van Cleef earrings (photo courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
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