U.S. Customs officials are seizing record numbers of counterfeit wireless headphones amid a surge in the popularity of Apple’s AirPods, reports The Information.
Roughly 360,000 counterfeit wireless headphones with a retail value of US$62.2 million were confiscated in the first nine months of the U.S. government’s fiscal year, which starts in October. This is based on previously unreported data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The Information says that figure surpasses both the quantity and the retail value of counterfeit wireless headphones seized in all of fiscal 2020. That’s when 295,000 pairs worth $61.7 million were seized. The numbers are up dramatically from 2019, when the agency nabbed $3.3 million worth of headphones.
