Authorities seize $21.6 million in counterfeit NFL memorabilia

Over the past couple of weeks, law enforcement officials have seized $21.6 million worth of counterfeit NFL memorabilia and tickets and arrested over 50 people suspected of selling the phony merchandise.

(Feel free to insert your own joke about how it’s fitting that fans of both the Broncos and the Seahawks have been duped into buying fake goods since both teams have legions of fake, bandwagon fans.)

John Sandweg, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the crackdown on counterfeiters isn’t going to let up even though the Super Bowl is only a few days away:

"We are not letting up, we will continue to work through the next few days to take down the counterfeiters and scam artists. What we’re dealing with here are criminal organizations who are not only going to be committing this particular crime. But when they have the identifying information of the consumer, we have seen instances where they have taken advantage of that data (Reuters)."

Anastasia Danias, chief litigation officer for the NFL, warned fans about buying tickets for cash on the street. Evidently, those tickets are likely to be counterfeit. Who woulda thunk it?

[Source: Reuters]