Cargo Business Newswire

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

CBP seizes $3.2M in Hermes belt knock-offs at L.A. port

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and import specialists at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports seized nearly 4,000 counterfeit Hermes belts.

Officers seized 3,960 belts that arrived from China on June 18. The shipment was displayed as "plastic brooms" as a way to evade detection, according to CBP officers.

The belts sported the Hermes trademark on the boxes, back of each belt and on the back of each belt buckle. If the items were genuine, officers

estimate the total cost of the belts to be more than $3.2 million.

"Counterfeit products are increasingly of a higher quality, making consumers easily deceived by fakes that look and feel real," said Carlos Martel, CBP port director of the Los Angeles and Long Beach seaport complex. "The flood of counterfeit products not only creates an enormous drain on the U.S. economy, but funds transnational criminal enterprises."

For more of the ABC News story: 6abc.com