Some car owners are willing to go to extreme lengths to avoid the time and monetary cost of having their vehicles pass an annual state inspection, including buying fake stickers. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 22,000 counterfeit Pennsylvania vehicle inspection stickers in two recent shipments from Israel. The stickers would be worth $1.4 million if they were authentic.
The two separate shipments were destined for an address in Philadelphia. The first shipment arrived in the U.S. on November 26 and contained 10,000 fake stickers. The second shipment reached stateside on December 9 with 12,000 fake stickers. Agents believed the stickers were fraudulent and detained both parcels, and their suspicions were confirmed by Pennsylvania authorities a week later. Cleatus P. Hunt, Jr., CBP’s Area Port Director for the Area Port of Philadelphia, said:
“Unscrupulous actors peddling fraudulent vehicle inspection stickers create a very serious public safety concern. Fake inspection stickers mask unsafe motor vehicles that place all motorists on our roadways in harm. Customs and Border Protection officers will continue to seize illicit and illegal products that could be harmful to consumers and the public when we encounter them.”
CBP noted that using fake vehicle inspection stickers carries a penalty of up to $500 and potential jail time. However, no one has been arrested on charges related to the shipments. While I have no idea what a fake sticker would sell for on the streets of Philadelphia, there’s no way it could be cheaper than a black Sharpie and a Post-It note. A New York man was arrested in 2022 after attempting to pass out his artistic interpretation of a sticker as authentic.
