Two shipments that had hundreds of fake Rolex watches were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Indianapolis.
On Monday, authorities said that 460 watches came from Hong Kong and were headed to Brooklyn, NY. Officials say that the vendor has a past record of sending fake items.
If the counterfeit watches had been real, they would have been worth $10.1 million when looking at the manufacturer’s selling price, authorities say.
“No one buys luxury brand watches expecting it to fail or fall apart. As consumers increasingly purchase from online or third-party vendors, our officers are guarding against defrauders…,” one official noted.
During April alone, officers in Indianapolis had taken three shipments of counterfeit watches. If they would have been genuine, the watches would have totaled $20 million.
Authorities say that because buying items on the internet is so popular, it isn’t hard for people to buy things through online vendors. This enables more fraudulent activity to occur and fake goods to enter the country more easily.
