The sale of counterfeit products continued this year. And now there is a drug that claims to cure COVID.
Magdalena Collado, a customs and border protection official, explained that this year the sale of such counterfeit drugs has caused concern among agents.
“And then I say it’s to cure them and at the moment it’s not regulated by the FDA. And then we don’t know the contents of these pills that I’m selling right now,” Collado explains.
The demonstration took place on Tuesday in the American Airlines cargo building at JFK Airport.
Inspectors from internal security and customs and border protection investigations have alerted consumers to the top pirated items these days.
“At this moment we want to make sure that the products are real, not counterfeit and do not cause harm to the consumer,” explains the agent.
From October 2019 to September this year, more than 26,000 shipments of goods that infringe intellectual property rights were intercepted.
The amount confiscated amounts to over $ 1.3 billion nationwide.
Pirates’ products include sports team shirts, watches, glasses, wallets, shoes, iPhones, tablets, video games, batteries and toys.
Other counterfeit items that can also be dangerous are batteries.
“Their products can explode when they use these batteries,” warns Collado.
A high level of lead was also detected in the transport of fake toys and backpacks: “The situation is very alarming, because it contains lead and is very dangerous for families.”
To avoid scams, agents advise you to buy gifts in reputable stores and examine the quality of the goods.
“If you see the fabric here, it is forged, because the fabric is not well made,” the authority details.
As a general recommendation: when you see an online offer that is too good to be true, that product has a high chance of being counterfeited.
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