Can you tell the difference between a real designer bag and a fake?
A scammer moving knockoff Louis Vuitton purses through Dulles airport apparently was hoping you can't.
Customs officials recently seized a huge haul of phony designer shoes, purses, belts and more from Washington Dulles International Airport. The shipment included bogus checkered Louis Vuitton purses, which cost upward of $1,000 for the real thing, and fake green-and-red striped Gucci sneakers, which retail for more than $600.
The entire air cargo shipment of 90 items had a suggested retail price of more than $129,000, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Wednesday.
Here's how customs officials got the goods: On Dec. 27, a Woodbridge, Virginia, woman arrived at the CBP's air cargo office to pick up a shipment of what was labeled "shoes bags scarfs." Officers suspected that the items were illegal fakes, and held on to the shipment.
With help from the real designers, officers verified that the goods were knockoffs. They seized the shipment on Jan. 17.
It wasn't immediately clear if the Virginia woman who tried to pick up the goods was charged. Her name was not released. Also, it was not clear where the phony goods were made or where they were set to be sold.
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A customs director said the action protects consumers. On a typical day in 2017, officials say they seized an estimated $3.3 million worth of products with intellectual property violations.
