HIGHLIGHTS
* Counterfeit Apple products worth $290,000 (over Rs 2.36 crore) were confiscated at a US Airport.
* The shipments comprised 1,000 Apple AirPods Pro and 50 Apple Watches.
* Apple counterfeits were seized on March 29th
A large number of counterfeit Apple products valued at approximately $290,000 (R2,36,92,855) were confiscated at Washington Dulles International Airport in the US. On March 15th, at Dulles, officers examined four shipments sent from China to an address in Fairfax County, Virginia.
As per the US Customs and Border Protection release, the shipments comprised 1,000 Apple AirPods Pro and 50 Apple Watches, NBC Washington reported.
The officers detained the products for investigation, suspecting them to be counterfeit. The Machinery Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEE) trade experts have examined pictures of the products and concluded that they are fake.
Authorities seized counterfeit Apple products On March 29th. However, no charges have been made in relation to the incident, the report said.
Apple iOS 16 feature to detect Fake AirPods
The issue of counterfeit products has been a longstanding battle for Apple, with AirPods and AirPods Pro being particularly affected. According to a report in 2021, Apple has suffered a loss of approximately $3.2 billion (Rs 261,883,539,200) due to counterfeit AirPods. Because of this, Apple added a feature to iOS 16 that tells users if they connect a fake pair of AirPods.
Apple introduced a new verification check in the iOS 16 update to identify fake AirPods. Users will receive an alert from iOS indicating that their headphones are not authentic when they pair fake AirPods. Users are not prevented from pairing or using fake AirPods with this feature. The notification notifies the user that they are utilising fake AirPods.
To confirm the authenticity of a pair of AirPods, you can also utilise its serial number. To locate the serial number for AirPods or AirPods Pro 2, check the underside of the charging case lid. The left earcup of the AirPods Max displays the serial number. To view it, you will need to take off the magnetic ear cushion.
To check the coverage of your device, visit checkcoverage.apple.com after obtaining the serial number. The AirPods’ warranty and additional coverage details will be presented on this webpage. Proper results will be visible if your AirPods are authentic. An error message will be displayed by the website if the items are not genuine.
Counterfeit AirPods have become a significant problem over the past several years, leading to Apple adding a built-in feature to iOS 16 that warns users if they connect a counterfeit pair of AirPods.
In an attempt to crack down on the problem, officials at Washington Dulles International Airport recently seized 1,000 pairs of counterfeit AirPods, alongside a collection of counterfeit Apple Watches as well..
In total, officers seized $290,000 worth of fake Apple products, according to a report from NBC Washington. The products were in Apple’s “signature simple, white packaging” and were headed from China to an address in Virginia. In total, the shipment included 1,000 fake pairs of AirPods Pro and 50 fake Apple Watch Ultra devices: Officers inspected four shipments sent from China to an address in Fairfax County, Virginia, at Dulles on March 15.
The shipments contained 1,000 Apple AirPods Pro and 50 Apple Watches, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection release.
Trade experts at the Machinery Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEE) viewed photos of the products and determined they were counterfeit. They appraised the product’s retail price at about $290,000.
Apple has battled counterfeit products for years, but it’s been a major problem for AirPods and AirPods Pro especially. In fact, a report in 2021 estimated that fake AirPods had cost Apple around $3.2 billion.
To counter this, Apple added a new system in iOS 16 last year that warns users when they attempt to pair counterfeit AirPods with their iPhone or iPad.
Still, some manufacturers of fake AirPods have already found ways to circumvent that iOS 16 warning.
In the past, Apple has said that it works with “law enforcement, customs, merchants, social media companies, and e-commerce sites” around the world to remove counterfeit product listings.
“Counterfeit products deliver an inferior experience, and they can often be dangerous,” the company said in a previous statement.
Faqs
1) 1,000 fake AirPods and 50 fake Apple Watch Ultra devices were confiscated at Washington Airport coming from China.Details ?
Ans) Mostly, these fake Apple products are manufactured in China and shipped to the United States. Manufacturers make these products at a fraction of the price and scamming users to pay the full price. United States officials and Apple are consistently working to track down counterfeit products and prevent the costs. NBC Washington reports that officers confiscated fake AirPods and Apple Watch Ultra devices from a DC-area airport worth $290,000, to be exact.
The report highlights that the fake AirPods and Apple Watch models were packed in Apple’s signature-style white packaging. It is very hard to distinguish between fake and original as the prior are manufactured to deceive the end user. The fake products were shipped from China to Virginia. As mentioned earlier, 1,000 fake AirPods and 50 Apple Watch Ultra devices were taken hold of. The incident took place on March 15.
Apple has long been working to counter the issue as it costs Apple a lot of money. For instance, in the year 2021, fake AirPods cost Apple more than $3 billion. To tackle the dilemma, Apple has implemented several solutions that users should follow. In iOS 16, Apple used a mechanism to let users know if fake AirPods have been connected to the iPhone. However, the manufacturers have found a way to bypass the notification. Since investigations are still underway, it is unclear at this stage who is responsible for the act.
Apple and U.S. officials work together to remove fake product listings. Usually, these types of products are sold online, where the end-user has no idea whether the product is straight from Apple. Since users are paying the full price, it reduces sales numbers for Apple. The company could potentially devise a solution for fake AirPods and Apple Watch Ultra models in iOS 17. While exact details are scarce at the moment, we will let you know as soon as Apple shares an update. It was previously reported that burglars cut a hole through the bathroom deal to steal over $500,000 worth of Apple products from the Apple Store.
2) Where are the fake apple products confiscated?
Ans) A large number of counterfeit Apple products valued at approximately $290,000 (Rs 2,36,92,855) were confiscated at Washington Dulles International Airport in the US. On March 15th, at Dulles, officers examined four shipments sent from China to an address in Fairfax County, Virginia.
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