More than 160,000 counterfeit U.S. Forever Stamps were seized in Chicago last weekend, officials said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protections (CBP) officers assigned to the Anti-Terrorism Contraband Enforcement Team at the Chicago International Mail Branch said they were able to intercept eight shipments containing a total of 161,860 counterfeit stamps.
CBP said it has seen an uptick in counterfeit postage stamps especially around the holidays — like Valentine's Day.
Officials said that "while the print quality of the seized postage was poor, the counterfeit quality is improving and the average consumer may not notice a difference from an authentic stamp."
All the parcels that were obtained by CBP were arriving from China and officials said if the stamps were genuine, the face value would be over $118,000.
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