Counterfeit Goods Shot Up 24% Last Year

Officials at Customs and Border Protection say their seizures of counterfeit and pirated goods shot up last year. They had almost 25,000 cases, an increase of 24 percent over 2010. CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement focused their efforts on health and safety products like pharmaceuticals and perfume, where the increase in 2011 was even bigger, 44 percent higher than in 2010. China leads the pack in terms of source countries for counterfeit and pirated goods. China accounted for 62 percent of the goods seized in 2011. But CBP says the fake goods are getting more difficult to find, with more and more of them being sold to individuals via websites and shipped via U.S. Mail.