WaEx: Federal immigration agents stationed in Laredo, Texas, uncovered approximately $43 million of counterfeit clothing and accessories in a single bust in June.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency largely known for deporting illegal immigrants, said its Homeland Security Investigation agents found more 181,615 fake designer items that were being moved by a criminal organization in Laredo.
The same unnamed organization was busted in May for attempting to export to Mexico $16 million worth of goods that violated trademarks. read more
B-B-B-But… The children!! Ignorant libs have zero idea what ICE actually does. Maybe libs want the pedophiles, drug dealers and counterfeiters to roam free since that entails most liberal ideology.
Now where am I suppose to get a hot deal on a Rolix watch and a pair of Roy-Ban sunglasses?
dang, this is really gonna cramp my ‘stylin’ this season, shopping at my local haberdashery … Wal-Mart
Many years ago, there was this very odd, kind of neat, but still odd forum of online counterfeit Rolex enthusiasts.
Their goal was to build the PERFECT counterfeit Rolex that would evade all detection attempts short of removing the back.
They would spend several hundred dollars on these watches, many would hang actual Rolex parts on them, such as hands, crystals, watch faces, bezels, and bracelets (bands). Many also had actual Rolex watches too, so they were not necessarily poor.
Eventually the forum was shut down by either the feds or civilly by Rolex. At the time Rolex was suing them too.
I think these “projects” were the forum members just scratching an itch and never could have been profitably sold on in the real world. The Chinese would never have put that kind of attention to detail or expense into their own counterfeits.
Damn….. I liked these people better when we had them hooked on opium.
I was looking at one of those Government Liquidation auctions a few years ago that included thirty or so “verified” Rolex watches….. So I figured, if I can snatch 5 of those for my children, it will give them something of value. I did not bid over 2k on any of them. Most of them went for 5k and more.
“Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act.” Geo. Orwell
@Aaron Burr,
Everyone is more agreeable while shrouded in a gray opium haze of smoke and forgotten misery.
So there is ALOT of criminal activity that
goes on at or near the border.The criminal
activity one way or the other hurts our good
citizens.So control the dam border!
Hmmmm. An “un-named criminal organization based in Laredo Texas? Must be those damned Lithuanians again!
Does the line …”a gray opium haze of smoke and forgotten misery.” … give anyone else a chubby?
How can they tell the goods are counterfeit? Were they made in crappier Chinese factories than the crappy Chinese factories the designer goods are usually made in?
These days, why would one want to wear a phony Rolex? Can you imagine getting all shot up over someone wanting to steal your fake wrist watch? It would be bad enough if were the real McCoy, but a fake one?!
Back in the mid-80’s when I visited SoKo on TDY, I saw nothing but fake Louis Vitton bags in every shape and size; even a LV golf bag and club covers. I thought of getting it for my FIL just for a joke (he always played with his high-rolling cronies at the public courses because his fee was only a buck and he saved on a caddy by carrying his own gear, and he was always reminding everyone that golf started in Scotland. “Get it? Scotland? Miserly?” “Yeah, yeah, we get it, you’re just a cheap…”)
A lot of the Rolex “replacant” enthusiasts claimed that they were duplicating existing Rolexes that they did not feel comfortable wearing day-to-day but if their replicant watch were lost or stolen, it would be less catastrophic of a loss as many of these watches had sentimental value.
They also wanted a Rolex “fake” that would be so well executed that even owners of real Rolex would not be able to tell the difference without removing the back, as many of these replicant owners had many friends and associates that owned many real Rolexes and would be able to spot a typical fake from a mile away, and that would cause them problems.
It was usually for complicated or convoluted social reasons.
That’s a unique subgroup however. Most of your fake rolex wearers are posers playing dress-up.