If you were hoping to nab a cheap wearable any time soon, your friendly, neighborhood, knock-off dealer's supply might have just gotten pinched. An estimated $35,000 worth of counterfeit smart wristbands from Hong Kong were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Philadelphia Jan. 4.
According to a release, CBP worked with the unnamed trademark-holding company in order to determine whether the fakes were indeed fakes. The 350 seized wristbands first arrived in the U.S. Dec. 4, which if authentic would retail for around $100 each.
The products arrived in the U.S. through express consignment, delivered by air, CBP told Mashable in an email.
In a statement, Susan Stranieri, CBP Port Director for the Area Port of Philadelphia, said, “Customs and Border Protection will continue to work closely with our trade and consumer safety partners to identify and seize counterfeit and substandard merchandise, especially those products that pose potential harm to American consumers.”
This is the second case of Chinese counterfeit tech seizure in the past week. At CES last week, the Changzhou First International Trade booth was raided by U.S. Marshals for their Trotter electric skateboard, which was a knock-off version of Future Motion's Onewheel.
No doubt the counterfeiters are trying to capitalize on popular tech trends, with wearables and hoverboards being some of the hottest current consumer tech markets. Changzhou First International Trade was offering its Trotter for $500, which is $1,000 less than the original Onewheel product.
CBP said they will not release information about the make or model of the items that were counterfeited or whether any arrests were made following the seizure in Philadelphia.
Update 1/13 9:59 a.m. This story was updated with information from the CBP.