CBP reports rise in fake postage stamp seizures

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has seen a sharp rise in imports of counterfeit US postage stamps, intercepting two shipments in the last couple of weeks alone worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The recent seizures include one in Chicago, Illinois, which netted 161,000 US Forever stamps – which can be used to mail a letter regardless of when the stamps are purchased or used – and another in Birmingham, Alabama, that took around 200,000 out of circulation. The two seizures – made for violation of trademark laws – had a collective estimated value of $264,000.

“CBP has seen a real uptick in counterfeit US Postal Service postage stamps especially around the holidays to include high volume card holidays like Valentine’s Day,” said the agency in a statement.

“While the print quality of the seized postage was poor, the counterfeit quality is improving, and the average consumer may not notice a difference from an authentic stamp.”

The operation at the Chicago International Mail Branch stopped eight shipments, all arriving from China, while officers at the Port of Birmingham discovered the counterfeits in two packages shipped from Hong Kong.

While counterfeiting is a worldwide issue, China and Hong Kong accounted for approximately 90 per cent of the total intellectual property rights (IPR) infringing goods seized in fiscal year 2024, according to CBP.

“Counterfeiters only care about making a profit,” said LaFonda Sutton-Burke, director of field operations at Chicago CBP. “They don’t care about the effect that fake postage has on your ability to send important mail and overall impacts the US economy.”

Other counterfeit seizures made by CBP in recent weeks include:

• 4,000 pieces of sports merchandise and memorabilia worth $1.4m in Cincinnati, Ohio, including jerseys, hats, coins, jewellery, footwear, and bags that infirmed trademarks held by professional sports teams such as Detroit Lions, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Al-Nassr FC, Atlanta Braves, and Seattle Mariners;
• $27m-worth of counterfeit jewellery in Louisville, Kentucky, including designer watches, bracelets, rings, necklaces, and earrings including Rolex knock-offs; and
• Two shipments containing 2,172 pieces of rings, brooches, bracelets, charms, necklaces and earrings bearing luxury designer’s protected trademarks, including Tiffany & Co, Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, Chanel, and Juste Un, worth over $5m, that were intercepted in Indianapolis, Indiana.