US Customs Seizes Yet Another Huge Cache Of Fake Apple AirPods

US Customs and Border Patrol has announced the discovery of yet another huge batch of fake AirPods shipped to the US, the latest of many similar discoveries the agency has reported over the past several months. This latest discovery was made by the CBP in Cincinnati, Ohio, where officials seized five shipments containing more than 6,000 counterfeit 'AirPods' products.

AirPods are both a status symbol and a great accessory for day-to-day life. It's no surprise, then, that counterfeiting operations are churning out thousands of clones that are packaged to look like AirPods, but that isn't actually from Apple and that generally offer far inferior performance.

US Customs and Border Patrol has reported several major seizures involving counterfeit AirPods products, the most recent of which was published on July 15. According to the CBP, the confiscated counterfeit earbuds have a retail value of around $1.3 million, assuming they would have been sold at MSRP.

The CBP explains that five shipments of the headphones from China were inspected on July 7, revealing 5,000 counterfeit AirPods products and 1,372 counterfeit AirPods Pro products. The items were sent to specialists to determine whether they were authentic where it was determined they were all in violation of copyright and trademark rules.

Counterfeit electronics are a big problem for multiple reasons; not only do these products rip off legitimate companies, they often result in consumers paying premium prices for low-quality items. Of particular concern are the lithium-ion batteries found in many consumer gadgets. Low-quality batteries or poorly-constructed electronics can result in these batteries overheating, potentially causing fire or explosions.