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Authorities Cracking Down On Fake NFL Merchandise

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By MARK  DOUGLAS | News Channel 8

Published: January 26, 2009

Homeland security agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement are teaming up this week with NFL security and Tampa police to ferret out counterfeit goods among the myriad football merchandise on sale before the Super Bowl.

ICE agents say they recovered five large garbage bags on Sunday full of "Official NFL" jerseys at the Big Top Flea Market that turned out to be unauthorized gear, probably manufactured overseas. On Monday, ICE agents raided a temporary storefront in Ybor city advertising "Official NFL" merchandise and found a number of counterfeit goods mixed in with the real stuff.

Those goods are part of the nation's illegal trade of counterfeit products of all sorts, from sports gear to fashion handbags, said Freddie Chow, group supervisor for the ICE Office of Investigations.

Chow said the illegal trade amounts to somewhere between $200 billion and $300 billion a year, undermines the national economy and supports organized crime.

Most authentic NFL gear should have hologram tags with serial numbers, Chow said. If there are serial numbers, consumers should check to see whether the numbers differ from item to item.

Cheap prices are another giveaway. "You're looking at an item like this (NFL team jersey) at a flea market selling from anywhere between $45-$65 when in fact a genuine article like at retail could be sold for up to $350," Chow said.

In Ybor City, the landlord who rented to the merchants said his contract specifically required an NFL license and he had no idea federal agents had targeted the store for a seizure of goods.

Agents say they will confiscate counterfeit goods from merchants the first time and pursue criminal charges the second time that could result in five year prison terms and hefty fines.

There's no law against consumers buying such merchandise, but Tampa police detective Bill Todd says there's a practical reason for fans to avoid such purchases.

"Typically, counterfeits are not worthy of the quality they're being charged for," Todd said.

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