HSI Houston cautions consumers to beware of counterfeit merchandise, tickets during 2023 NCAA Men’s Final Four

HOUSTON — As the city of Houston prepares to host the 2023 NCAA Men’s Final Four from March 31 through April 3, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Houston cautions fans to be on the lookout for individuals and businesses attempting to sell unauthorized or counterfeit NCAA merchandise and tickets to Final Four games.

High-profile sporting events like the Final Four often attract counterfeiters who prey on increased public demand to illegally sell counterfeit merchandise and tickets to celebrating fans who let down their guards.

A common misconception is that counterfeiting only impacts large corporations. However, that is untrue. The impacts of counterfeiting are far-reaching and often affect:

• Small businesses that purchase expensive vendors’ licenses to sell authentic merchandise and lose revenue.
• Trademark holders who put in the resources, time and effort to establish their brands.
• Consumers who spend their hard-earned money on items of substandard quality and open themselves up to financial schemes.

To protect fans, HSI is working with the Houston Police Department, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the NCAA to aggressively target counterfeiters leading up to and throughout this year’s Final Four. HSI also recommends that you take the following steps to protect yourself from counterfeiters:

• Always purchase tickets through an authorized ticket broker. Tickets for the 2023 NCAA Men’s Final Four are only available through mobile ticketing on your smart phone. If you purchase tickets on the secondary market, stick with reputable companies and double check the website’s guarantee.
• Shop only at authorized retail locations, rather than with street vendors, at flea markets or with other questionable sources, to purchase merchandise or apparel.
• Avoid purchasing apparel with poor stitching, ripped tags, irregular markings or misspellings.
• Keep an eye out for items that are made from inferior quality materials or that have no official sewn-in or screen-printed labels identifying the licensee.
• Check your online bank statements. Keep a record of purchases and copies of confirmation pages and compare them to bank statements. If there is a discrepancy, you should report it immediately.
• If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Criminals often use legit product photos on their websites but sell fraudulent products.

Between February 2022 and February 2023, HSI and CBP seized approximately 180,000 counterfeit sports-related items with estimated manufacturer suggested retail prices totaling more than $22.7 million, resulting in 75 arrests, 16 indictments and 11 convictions. The seizures are part of Operation Team Player, an ongoing annual initiative run by the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center and all major U.S. sports leagues to prevent counterfeit sports-related merchandise and apparel from reaching fans ahead of high-profile sporting events.

For more news and information HSI Houston’s efforts to combat intellectual property theft and trade fraud in Southeast Texas follow us on Twitter @HSIHouston.

For more than two decades, the IPR Center has led the effort in the government's response to combat global intellectual property theft and enforce trade laws. Comprised of federal agencies, international law enforcement, academia, private sector partners, and industry experts, the IPR Center develops initiatives, coordinates enforcement actions, shares information related to intellectual property theft and trade fraud and plays a significant role in policing the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods. To report IP theft or to learn more about the IPR Center, visit IPRCenter.gov.

HSI is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of more than 8,700 employees consists of more than 6,000 special agents assigned to 237 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.