Nearly $400,000 worth of fake Apple products were seized on Tuesday at Ontario International Airport and the Long Beach Seaport complex, federal authorities have revealed.
Jaime Ruiz of U.S Customs and Border Protection said that the range of fake Apple Products was “concealed in generic packaging.”
There were 220 “wrist wearable devices” and 1,200 pairs of wireless headphones, according to Ruiz. Ruiz told NBC Los Angeles that “If genuine, the seized products would have had an estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $396,812,”
This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen counterfeit Apple goods this year — $290,000 worth of fake AirPods and Apple Watches were seized at Washington Dulles Airport in Virginia in April.
Apple Watches and AirPods appear to be the go-to fake Apple products, potentially due to their lower price and potential to fool unsuspecting consumers over the far more prevalent and recognizable iPhone.
Don’t get caught out by fakes — iMore’s take
The world of counterfeit goods is wild, and you’d be surprised at how easy it is to get caught out with fake products like Apple Watches and AirPods. Thankfully, you can usually tell a fake from the real deal as soon as you turn it on; they’re generally plagued with dodgy user interfaces and clunky attempts at recreating Apple’s software.
That said, fake Apple products have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years, and during my time working at the Genius Bar, I would see fake AirPods all the time. Customers who unknowingly picked up good deals from Amazon or eBay were shocked to find out they‘d ended up with a fake when the charging case failed or the AirPods within sounded like they were playing down a drainpipe.
The scary thing with stories like this is that there must be a huge market for fake technology even to attempt to smuggle in fake goods of this quantity. It’s always something to be cautious about when buying on the aftermarket and is one of the main reasons we advocate for buying from trusted sources at all times, like Apple directly, Amazon, or Best Buy. Stay vigilant, and if a deal is too good to be true, then it probably is.