Border Officials Seize $685,000 In Counterfeit Currency From China

Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times,

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Chicago recently stopped several shipments containing counterfeit currencies totaling $685,000 from China, the agency announced on Tuesday.

The shipments arrived at Chicago’s International Mail Facility (IMF) between May 15 and 17, destined for cities in several states including Illinois, Indiana, New York, and Kentucky. The fake currencies came in the form of $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills.

One shipment was destined for the Bronx, New York containing 976 $100 bills. Another shipment was headed to Louisville, Kentucky containing 101 $20 bills and 103 $50 bills. All of these shipments were manifested as prop money.

“Our CBP officers are always on the alert watching for any type of prohibited shipments that come through the IMF,” said Shane Campbell, area port director-Chicago, according to a statement.

He added, “By stopping these shipments we are protecting our financial institutions, businesses, and the public.”

China remains the top source of fake goods entering the U.S. market. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, CBP made 27,599 seizures in the fiscal year 2019. These goods would have had an estimated retail price of over $1.5 billion if they were genuine.

Among these seizures in 2019, 13,293, or 48 percent, originated from China, followed by Hong Kong with 9,778 seizures, or 35 percent. The top category of seized products was counterfeit watches and jewelry, at 15 percent, followed by apparel and accessories at 14 percent.

The fake money seized by CBP officers in Chicago was hardly an isolated incident.

On April 23, CPB officers in the city announced a recent seizure of 281 shipments containing counterfeit bills and coins at Chicago’s IMF. Ninety-five percent of these shipments originated from China.

281, that is how many parcels CBP officers in Chicago seized that contained counterfeit currency. Some of the bogus money was $100 bills, but the majority was coin currency with a lot of it heading to various cities across the U.S. https://t.co/0vY5uoee8e pic.twitter.com/cKKe2Uo9ct

— CBP Chicago (@CBPChicago) April 23, 2021

In total, the 281 shipments consisted of 39 fake 50-cent coins, 6,345 fake $1 coins, 283 fake $2.5 coins, and 1,589 fake $100 bills.

“Counterfeiting is a lucrative business which is often used to finance illegal activities such as trafficking in human beings, drugs, and even terrorism,” stated Mike Pfeiffer, assistant area port director-Chicago, in a statement following the seizure of the fake bills and coins.

Just weeks earlier, on April 6, CBP officers in Chicago also announced that they seized more than 100 shipments—nearly all coming from China—containing counterfeit currency totaling more than $1.64 million. The shipments arrived in the United States between Jan. 1 and March 31. The fake currency included U.S. bills, U.S. coins, and euros.

Counterfeit currency has been plentiful during the past 3 months at the International Mail Facility at O’Hare. CBP officers seized 109 packages containing different denominations of paper currency, collectible coins & foreign currency; $1.64M seized.https://t.co/XLoemCXIzH pic.twitter.com/HcNQ5yweJ6

— CBP Chicago (@CBPChicago) April 6, 2021

For the fiscal year 2020, which spanned from Oct. 1, 2019 to Sept. 30, 2020, CPB officers in Chicago stated that they seized more than $10.6 million in fake money.

Chicago was not the only area where counterfeit money was being stopped. In June 2020, CPB officers in Milwaukee stopped a shipment from Shanghai to a residence in Milwaukee. Inside the shipment were 3,515 fake $100 bills.

In May 2020, CPB officers at an Express Consignment Operations hub in Cincinnati announced the seizure of a shipment containing 2,523 fake $100 bills. The shipment originated from Shenzhen, a city in southern China, and was headed to Guthrie, Oklahoma.