Two shipments packed with 200 counterfeit Cartier watches, carrying a combined suggested retail value of nearly $28 million, never made it past Chicago. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted the packages at O'Hare International Airport as they moved from Hong Kong toward a final destination in California, federal officials announced Wednesday.
The interception happened September 18 and was carried out by CBP's Anti-Terrorism Contraband Enforcement Team, a specialized Office of Field Operations unit tasked with examining high-risk international cargo and express parcels, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. As WGN-TV reported, the shipments were flagged before reaching their intended buyer. CBP's Centers of Excellence and Expertise, where trade analysts consult with trademark owners before finalizing a seizure, deemed the watches inauthentic, and officers seized them for bearing counterfeit versions of trademarks registered and recorded with the agency.
The $28 million figure, drawn from Cartier's own suggested retail pricing, breaks down to roughly $140,000 per watch had the timepieces been real, according to the Washington Examiner. That per-unit figure underscores how counterfeiters are increasingly targeting ultra-high-end timepiece models rather than cheaper knockoffs, since the potential profit margins are far larger. The Examiner also discusses online sources and organized crime in relation to counterfeit goods.
A Familiar Pattern at O'Hare
This isn't the first time O'Hare has served as a chokepoint for fake luxury watches moving from East Asia into the U.S. In August 2025, CBP officers at the same airport intercepted 73 counterfeit watches bearing Cartier, Rolex, and Gucci labels, valued at $2.8 million, as reported by WLS-TV. And throughout April 2025, customs officers across Chicago-area mail and freight facilities intercepted 145 shipments containing 516 fake watches — including Cartier, Patek Philippe, and Rolex models — worth a combined $9.22 million, according to CBS News.
Hoodline previously reported on a similar O'Hare bust involving more than 500 counterfeit luxury watches. The recurring pattern points to O'Hare's role as a primary gateway linking East Asian manufacturing hubs to domestic distribution points across the country.
The Bigger Picture on Counterfeit Trade
Nationally, CBP's fiscal year 2024 intellectual-property-rights seizures involved goods that would have carried a combined $5.42 billion in suggested retail value if genuine. Watches alone accounted for about 27% of the total value of counterfeit goods seized that year, exceeding $1.4 billion and ranking ahead of handbags and wallets as a targeted commodity category.
CBP has said that counterfeit-goods profits often fund organized crime, and the agency's data identifies handbags, wallets, apparel, footwear, watches, jewelry, and consumer electronics as higher-risk categories for fraud. China and Hong Kong accounted for about 90% of seizure quantity in fiscal year 2024. CBP processed over 1.3 billion de minimis packages in fiscal year 2024 alone.
Consumer Warnings
It remains unclear whether the Department of Justice will pursue criminal charges against the intended California recipients or the Hong Kong exporters tied to the two intercepted packages. CBP is advising consumers to buy directly from trademark holders or authorized retailers, read seller reviews, confirm a working U.S. phone number and contact address before ordering online, and consult the agency's e-commerce counterfeit awareness guide. As officials put it plainly: if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.
