Fake Rolexes Are Really Expensive

by jordan | May 10, 2007 at 06:41 am | 1095 views | 2 comments

Whilst many feel that the Department of Homeland Security should be chasing terrorists, the security bureaucrats in question have turned their attention to another menace: fake Rolexes. The disturbing thing here is that the fine levied against this fake-watch bearer was based upon the retail value of genuine Rolex watches, the gold-standard of bling.

Mike Korpi wanted to bring back trinkets from China for his three kids and five grandkids, so he picked up some fake Rolex watches in a bargain shop -- paying a couple of bucks apiece.

As he left Shen Zhen for Oregon, he wore one and packed the other seven in his duffel bag. When the flight landed, a customs agent spotted the fake watch on Korpi's wrist and told him he'd have to be searched.

Korpi understood when the agent said he'd have to seize the watches. The agent said Korpi could keep the one he was wearing.

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And that was the end of that. Or so Korpi thought.

Over the next several months, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security tried reaching Korpi. They sent letters to his ex-wife. They tried calling him. Korpi assumed the government was trying to give the watches back.

But on Friday, he found out he was being fined for bringing counterfeit goods into the United States.

How much? Korpi asked the agent, figuring it couldn't be much since he paid $14.40 for all eight watches.

$55,300, the official said.

"I about hit the floor," Korpi said in an interview with The Oregonian on Tuesday. "I said, 'You gotta be joking.' I figured someone had missed a decimal point."

The assertion that this one guy was threatening the Rolex brand is rather hard to swallow and, more to the point, makes me wonder how the US is really using its security manpower, and to whose agenda.

(The link above asks for a ZIP code and a birth year; US ZIP codes are five digits long.)