The Port of Houston witnessed a massive shipment of Apple accessories, which the U.S. Customs and Border Protection believed to be a suspicious entry of goods into the country. Sure enough, a new report states that upon further inspection, it was revealed that these were counterfeit chargers and cables in the thousands, with an estimated street value of more than $7 million.
With the recent tariffs announcement, which enforces levies on goods arriving from overseas markets, sellers will attempt to cross such shipments without being detected. Given that the trade wars between China and the U.S. show no signs of concluding, such illegal entries will likely pick up in pace.
As reported by ABC13, with the details spotted by AppleInsider, a shipment of around 373,000 fake Apple chargers and cables was hauled by the authorities, with the agency stating that such products are typically in their crosshairs because counterfeiters try to avoid tax payments as much as possible. When confirming with Apple representatives, it was concluded that these were not authentic accessories.
The bust involved 7,460 cartons, and customs agents mentioned that the products featured the Apple trademark. The authorities have warned customers to only make purchases from legitimate sources and pay attention to the prices. While the efforts of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection must be commended, these incidents will increase in number.
Such counterfeit accessories might not just be limited to Apple, though we assume that these products will be arriving in a higher number compared to others because the California-based giant's devices sell in droves in the United States. Smugglers will definitely resort to more creative measures when bringing in fake chargers and cables into the country, but the best practice to be observed by customers is to avoid purchasing from unauthorized sources.