Louisville customs officers have now seized more than $80 million in fake luxury watches in just weeks, and the shipments keep coming

Federal officers at the Port of Louisville in Kentucky have intercepted another shipment of counterfeit luxury watches, pushing the region’s total in seized fake timepieces past $80 million in just a few weeks. The July 9 operation led to the seizure of 200 watches falsely bearing Audemars Piguet trademarks.

As detailed by BroBible, Audemars Piguet is considered one of the “Big Three” Swiss watchmakers alongside Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin, a status that makes it a frequent target for counterfeiters. The shipment had originated in Hong Kong and was destined for an address in Illinois before customs officers flagged the parcel for closer inspection.

The seizure was outlined in a release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose trade experts at the Centers of Excellence and Expertise confirmed the watches were inauthentic and seized them for bearing counterfeit versions of registered trademarks. Had the pieces been genuine, their combined manufacturer’s suggested retail price would have reached about 28 million dollars.

The counterfeit total keeps climbing every time officers open a new shipment

This isn’t an isolated case. Two weeks earlier, officers at the same port intercepted 375 counterfeit Audemars Piguet watches bound for a home in New York, a haul that would have carried an estimated retail value of more than 54 million dollars had it been authentic. Combined, the two seizures account for more than 80 million dollars in counterfeit goods pulled from the supply chain in less than a month.

Port Director Philip Onken said counterfeit goods are low quality products that cost American businesses billions of dollars a year while costing the country jobs and tax revenue. He added that officers are trained to spot illicit shipments and work to stop the flow of unlawful trade for the benefit of consumers.

The rise of e-commerce has made it easier for small, low-value packages carrying fake goods to slip past international shipping checks. Federal agencies have faced a similarly busy news cycle this month, amid separate developments where Trump slams Iran’s negotiators drew attention on the political front.

CBP continues to run an active Intellectual Property Rights enforcement program aimed at protecting American businesses from counterfeit trade, and the agency encourages consumers to buy luxury goods only through reputable retailers. Beyond counterfeit crackdowns, other recent reports have shown how badly technology can misjudge real-world risk, such as when a hiking app’s route miscalculation forced a group of hikers into a lengthy rescue operation.

Two seizures at the Port of Louisville have now pulled more than 80 million dollars in counterfeit Audemars Piguet watches from the supply chain since late June, with federal officials crediting the port’s trade experts for catching both shipments before they reached buyers in New York and Illinois.