"It almost becomes a negative thing," said Bell, a supervisory officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "When you're around somebody you like or something and you don't want to tell them, 'Hey, that's fake.'"
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13 Investigates got rare access to Bell and his team of CBP agents as they scanned and searched incoming shipments at George Bush Intercontinental Airport and the Port of Houston for counterfeit goods.
"Nowadays you can mask anything to be something else. They can easily create a chocolate bar that looks like chocolate, but it could be cocaine, it could be fentanyl, it could be anything, so our job is just to verify that it is what it's supposed to be," said CBP Officer and Acting Chief Yuri Collins.
In the federal government's fiscal year 2019, CBP data shows the agency seized $1.5 billion in counterfeit goods. That nearly doubled in fiscal year 2022, when $2.98 billion in counterfeit goods were seized.
Officers say they're seeing a surge of counterfeits entering the U.S., including everything from designer dupes and downright dangerous toys to fake contacts and prescription medication.
During fiscal year 2022, there were 31,030 handbags and wallets seized, 28,910 apparel items and accessories seized, 14,098 watches and jewelry items seized, 11,964 footwear seized, 3,875 consumer electronics seized, 3,671 pharmaceuticals and personal care items seized, as well as thousands of automotive and consumer products seized and hundreds of toys seized, according to CBP.
Christopher Burke, chief of tactical operations at CBP, is on the frontline of finding fakes at the Port of Houston as foreign items make their way to the U.S.
Burke said his job starts before the cargo is even put on a vessel from overseas.
"We're required to receive manifest data and we start targeting (shipments) well in advance and we're ready for it once it gets here," he said.
Any cargo containers that agents think look suspicious are then put through a large, truck-mounted X-ray to determine if they need further inspection, he said.
"When we're targeting (and) flagging containers there's several different components. We have agriculture specialists that are looking for agriculture violations. We have the trade group that's looking for counterfeit merchandise, (intellectual property rights)," Burke said. "They're very good at what they do."
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Bell said some fakes are more obvious to spot, like a 10XL jersey his team found in one shipment.
"We actually reached out to the NFL. The NFL doesn't sell anything over 5XL and this is 10XL," Bell said.
Other dupes are more subtle, but Bell said his years of experience allow him to spot tiny differences in fake merchandise.
One of the dupes his team spotted was an Astros jersey that had legitimate-looking labels and lettering on the outside. But when he looked inside of the jersey, he could tell by the sloppy stitches that it was a fake.
His team also spotted a fake Yeti tumbler after noticing the tint of the lid was slightly off, there was a glossy coating missing from the logo and there was a misspelled word on the packaging.
"Some of it is experience and trends and importation requirements," Bell said. "If we see a large shipment of Yetis coming from China it's going to raise a red flag because Yeti doesn't produce their products in China, so why would they be imported from China?"
Another dupe his team spotted were fake LED headlights.
"The reason why these are of such importance is because it goes into consumer product safety. Are they street legal," Bell said. "There's a certain illumination that they're required to have and it has to be within a range. It can't be too bright, it can't be too light and these unfortunately don't fall within that category, so they're not street legal in the U.S."
He said when they aren't 100% sure if an item is legitimate or fake, they will send a notification to the interested parties to let them know they're holding the shipment while they research its validity.
"A lot of times we'll reach out to the manufacturer, we'll reach out to car companies, we'll reach out to the EPA, we'll reach out to the Department of Transportation and get their input as well because they all have guidelines for street legal vehicles and stuff like that," Bell said.
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At the Port of Houston, CBP Supervisor Officer Marcia Scott said she recently found a huge shipment of toys and other items targeted for children that were either choking hazards or had lead in them.
She said CBP works diligently with other agencies, like the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which tests incoming toys for high contents of lead that are unsafe for children.
"We generally look at most things for children just to make sure it's safe to enter the U.S. for sale, for the children's safety," Scott said. "The volume is just excessive."
Scott said her team alone inspects up to 100 shipments per week and while what they find day-to-day varies, she admits it is getting harder to identify dupes because they're start to look more and more like the real deal.
"They're hard, but that's why we have our process. We're trying to be as proactive as the criminals," Scott said. "We're on the frontline, so it's our job. It's our passion."
Ultimately, she said CBP officers at the airport and Port of Houston are not only there to protect consumers from potentially dangerous products, but also to protect American businesses whose trademarks are being violated.
Companies could see a financial loss if people purchase dupes of their products because it is fewer sales for them. It also could hurt the company's reputation if there are poorly-made products on the market pretending to be a company.
"You never know, but when you think you're getting a deal, it might be too good to be true," Scott said.
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