Customs Officials Nab Nearly $12 Million in Counterfeit Sports Team Rings

To con artists and swindlers, duping people always stands to have a nice ring to it. Thanks to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), fortunate fans will not have to settle for goods that have a bogus connection to their championship teams, as the agency announced Tuesday that it collected $11.7 million in phony team rings last month, with the fakes infringing on four athletic teams' trademarks.

Among its other tasks, the Department of Homeland Security component is quite active in securing brand integrity, and sports have certainly entered the equation on a grand scale. Its representatives rid the public of 177 inauthentic products, sent from China, that would have looked to damage the integrity of MLB, the NCAA, the NFL and the NHL. Sources other than the account issued by CBP noted that NBA was also among the potential business-centric victims, but the official release that details the March 11 confiscation at John F. Kennedy International Airport notes no such connection.

$12 MILLION In Bogus Super Bowl, World Series Rings Seized In Customs Bust https://t.co/nz9QbQclRU

— TMZ (@TMZ) April 24, 2019

The aforementioned news roundups of the shady team rings also reveal that the imitations included championship rings of the last two Super Bowl victors, the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles, as well as the New York Yankees, who, although they last won the World Series in 2009, are likely always a desired franchise for bilkers to use as inspiration to rip people off. The taking of all the rings further shows that counterfeiters are constantly looking to make money off Americans’ unwavering attraction to sports, especially those organizations that have enjoyed enduring success and ones that one might consider upstarts.

This is the second instance in a short period of time that CBP has made known a sports-related seizure, and we can presume that as baseball season heats up and the NBA and NHL playoffs creep toward the second round, someone somewhere will think, “Hey, let me try to full people with these rings.” That said, we doubt that CBP is going to go any considerable amount of time without another significant bust.

Since @MLB opening day, Philadelphia @CBP officers have seized $44,000 in counterfeit @bryceharper3 @Phillies jerseys from China. Counterfeit sports jerseys are manufactured with substandard and potentially dangerous textiles. Details at https://t.co/oQLSFs4DPq #IPR pic.twitter.com/YBFZYT5ULx

— CBP Mid-Atlantic (@CBPMidAtlantic) April 19, 2019