A U.S. Customs and Border Protection campaign warning against the purchase of counterfeit goods was hosted at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Thursday.
CBP officers displayed some phony goods that had been seized, including designer apparel, perfumes, and accessories.
“So it looks like it’s an e-reader or something, right?” CBP Officer Robert Markiewicz asked onlookers at the airport, per Fox 4 KDFW. “But when you open it, it’s a counterfeit cell phone. So they try to get it past inspection with a different box.”
According to Markiewicz, knockoffs have been flooding into the United States and Dallas lately.
“In one quarter, we had over a 12-million-item increase,” he said, per Fox 4.
While counterfeit merchandise might have more appealing prices than genuine articles, the CBP’s Truth Behind Counterfeits campaign warns that purchasing them could lead to civil or criminal penalties. Moreover, doing so often contributes to criminal enterprises, which can involve forced labor and human trafficking.
With an estimated $3 trillion worth of counterfeit goods sold each year, the economic consequences for businesses, which lose around $200 billion a year from this activity, are tremendous and widespread.
There is also a potential health cost to the buyer of fake merchandise, with criminals using lead paint on fake toys or putting harmful chemicals in counterfeit vape pens.
“Overseas, lots of places use animal urine to tan leather,” Markiewicz said, per Fox 4. “Now, you’re putting that against your skin.”
While CBP officers have been specially trained to spot counterfeits, consumers — especially those making purchases online, where the lion’s share of this illegal commerce is taking place — can avoid phoneys in a couple of ways.
The first is to be suspicious of a cheap price tag.
“[Counterfeit goods] are cheap, and they are cheap for a reason because you are potentially exposing your family to very harmful things,” Markiewicz said, per NBC 5 DFW.
The second is to enlist the help of a professional. Austin Roberson with The Man’s Shop told NBC 5 that an array of resources exist online to help customers avoid getting scammed by the sellers of counterfeit goods.
According to data from the City’s crime analytics dashboard, as of July 18, there were 92 reports of forgery or counterfeiting in Dallas. District 6, which is represented by Council Member Omar Narvaez, saw roughly twice the number of incidents compared to the other council districts. The northwestern district also led all others in fraud offenses, with 196 of the 1,295 reported incidents this year occurring there.
The Dallas Police Department fields only about 3,000 officers, whereas a prior City report recommended closer to 4,000. Moreover, DPD only received a budget of $654 million this fiscal year, far less than that of other high-crime cities like New York City and Chicago.