U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Indianapolis International Airport have seized 300 counterfeit Audemars Piguet watches that would have been worth an estimated $12 million had they been the real thing. The shipment had arrived from Hong Kong and was on its way to Illinois when officers flagged it for inspection.
According to WIBC 93.1 FM, officers flagged the package for inspection on Wednesday; FOX59 reports that authorities had flagged it as suspicious. A closer look turned up the full stash of knockoff timepieces. As fox59.com reports, CBP's Centers of Excellence and Expertise, the agency's trade experts, examined the watches and determined they were inauthentic. Audemars Piguet is a brand known for high-end luxury timepieces, making it a frequent target for counterfeiters looking to cash in on its name.
A Familiar Pattern for Hong Kong Shipments
This isn't the first time a Hong Kong-to-Illinois shipment of fake Audemars Piguet watches has been intercepted by federal officers. The same outlet's report notes a comparable case out of Kentucky, where CBP agents at the Port of Louisville recently seized 200 luxury watches bearing counterfeit Audemars Piguet trademarks that also originated in Hong Kong and were en route to Illinois, a shipment that would have carried a manufacturer's suggested retail price of more than $28 million if genuine.
An even larger Louisville seizure turned up 375 counterfeit Audemars Piguet watches, a haul whose manufacturer's suggested retail price would have exceeded $54 million had the timepieces been authentic. U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that seizure in a release dated June 30, 2026, stating that its Centers of Excellence and Expertise deemed the watches inauthentic and seized them for bearing counterfeit versions of registered and recorded trademarks, according to cbp.gov.
Chicago Case Shows Counterfeiters Target Other Brands Too
Audemars Piguet isn't the only luxury brand showing up in these shipments. A separate CBP release describes a Chicago seizure in which an examination revealed 200 watches bearing the suspected Cartier trademark, also deemed inauthentic by the agency's trade experts and seized for bearing counterfeit versions of registered and recorded trademarks.
CBP's own data points to a broader surge in this kind of enforcement. Per the agency's Intellectual Property Rights seizure statistics, the total number of goods seized for IPR violations more than doubled from fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2024, a trend that helps explain why Indianapolis, Louisville, and Chicago have each logged major counterfeit watch busts in recent memory.
Why CBP Says Counterfeits Matter Beyond Fashion
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said counterfeit goods can help fund criminal organizations involved in money laundering, drug trafficking, and other illegal activity, per CBP officials cited in the WIBC report. The agency also warned that people buying products online from third-party sellers could unknowingly end up with fake merchandise, a caution that applies well beyond the Indianapolis airport where this latest shipment never made it past inspection.
