US officials seize shipment of over 1,000 pairs of fake AirPods and Apple Watch Ultra knockoffs – do phone

Counterfeit AirPods have change into a significant problem over the previous a number of years, resulting in Apple including a constructed-in characteristic to iOS 16 that warns customers in the event that they join a counterfeit pair of AirPods.

In an try and crack down on the issue, officials at Washington Dulles Worldwide Airport just lately seized 1,000 pairs of counterfeit AirPods, alongside a set of counterfeit Apple Watches as effectively…

In whole, officers seized $290,000 value of fake Apple merchandise, in keeping with a report from NBC Washington. The merchandise have been in Apple’s “signature easy, white packaging” and have been headed from China to an deal with in Virginia. In whole, the shipment included 1,000 fake pairs of AirPods Professional and 50 fake Apple Watch Ultra gadgets:

Officers inspected 4 shipments despatched from China to an deal with in Fairfax County, Virginia, at Dulles on March 15. The shipments contained 1,000 Apple AirPods Professional and 50 Apple Watches, in keeping with a U.S. Customs and Border Safety launch.

Commerce specialists on the Equipment Facilities of Excellence and Experience (CEE) considered photographs of the merchandise and decided they have been counterfeit. They appraised the product’s retail value at about $290,000.

Apple has battled counterfeit merchandise for years, nevertheless it’s been a significant drawback for AirPods and AirPods Professional particularly. In actual fact, a report in 2021 estimated that fake AirPods had cost Apple round $3.2 billion.

To counter this, Apple added a brand new system in iOS 16 final yr that warns customers after they try and pair counterfeit AirPods with their iPhone or iPad. Nonetheless, some producers of fake AirPods have already discovered methods to avoid that iOS 16 warning.

Previously, Apple has stated that it really works with “legislation enforcement, customs, retailers, social media corporations, and e-commerce websites” around the globe to take away counterfeit product listings. “Counterfeit merchandise ship an inferior expertise, and they’ll typically be harmful,” the corporate stated in a earlier assertion.

Have you ever ever unintentionally bought fake AirPods or a special counterfeit Apple product? Tell us within the feedback.

Comply with Probability: Twitter, Instagram, and Mastodon