A report released Feb. 3 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows that counterfeit or substandard COVID-19 (Chinese Communist Virus-Induced Pneumonia Disease) related products from China account for approximately 51 percent of the products seized by U.S. Customs officials from October 2019 through Sept. 30, 2020.
Among the products seized by U.S. Customs officials were more than 12.7 million counterfeit masks, 177,356 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-banned COVID-19 test kits, and 38,098 FDA-banned chloroquine tablets.
The effectiveness of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine and its closely related chloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19 disease is highly controversial.
The FDA currently has a database listing fraudulent products related to COVID-19, including viral test kits. The names of the companies involved and their product names are listed in the database.
A CBP press release states that last December, Customs agents in Cincinnati seized 10,080 counterfeit surgical masks labeled “3M Mask Model 1860” in a shipment from China. The boxes containing the masks were fraudulently labeled “Made in USA.
CBP said the masks were sent to a sales company in Union City, California. The masks had a combined manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $65,520, based on the price of the genuine product.
Counterfeit masks also arrived in the United States from Hong Kong. 6,080 counterfeit 3M masks from Hong Kong were seized in a shipment by customs officials in Cincinnati on Dec. 6, 2020.
Last September, another shipment of fake N95 masks was seized in Chicago. At the Time, local customs officers intercepted a shipment containing 500,000 fake N95 masks. The masks, which are in high demand due to the Chinese Communist virus pandemic, had a domestic U.S. value of $3,074,385 and a suggested retail price of $474,905 from their manufacturer. The shipment came from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen and was destined for a company in Manalapan, New Jersey.
Forced Labor Products
In addition to counterfeit products associated with the outbreak, CBP’s report cites a record 13 new withholding release orders issued by customs agents during the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2020, prohibiting the importation of forced labor products.
Most of these targeted products – including disposable gloves, seafood and cotton – are from China. According to the report, the total value of these products is nearly $50 million.
General Products
Finally, the CBP report concluded that CBP officials seized a total of 26,503 shipments of products found to infringe U.S. intellectual property rights, and that China was the “primary source” of such seized products. The total “manufacturer’s suggested retail price” of these products is estimated to be more than $1.3 billion.
Last December, Los Angeles Customs officials seized three shipments from China that contained counterfeit products potentially worth more than $32 million. The counterfeit goods included pills, footwear, belts, wallets and headphones.
CBP announced last December 21 that counterfeit toys from China, valued at approximately $1.3 million, were also seized in New York/Newark Harbor.
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