ATLANTA — The gates are now open at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, currently called Atlanta Stadium for the World Cup, as Atlanta prepares to host its first-ever World Cup match.
While the economic impact from out-of-town visitors is expected to exceed half a billion dollars, federal officials are warning fans about counterfeit FIFA merchandise.
“The amount of money that is involved is staggering,” said Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia.
As of last week, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs had halted more than 900 shipments of counterfeit FIFA merchandise nationwide with a retail value of more than $13 million.
“We have had teams working in the cargo areas of Atlanta airport and going through shipments of goods coming in,” Schrank said.
Schrank said investigators are also monitoring shipments arriving through Georgia’s ports.
“We also look at seaport operations. I had teams out in Savannah cracking open containers along with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to ensure that counterfeit merchandise never makes it,” Schrank said.
Federal officials said the counterfeit items include fake jerseys, hats, tickets and other memorabilia.
Schrank said counterfeit merchandise does more than leave consumers with low-quality products.
“It takes money away from legitimate retailers that need to pay rent and try to do everything the right way by buying lawful licensed merchandise,” Schrank said.
He also warned that some websites selling counterfeit merchandise may be tied to other criminal activity.
“We also see a direct nexus between websites that sell counterfeit merchandise and organizations that wish to steal identities and steal credit card information and subsequently use that for additional criminal activity,” Schrank said.
Homeland Security is urging fans to purchase merchandise and tickets only from official team stores or reputable retailers. Officials also recommend watching for poor quality, sloppy stitching, missing security labels and irregular markings on apparel.
WSB Radio’s Veronica Waters contributed to this story.
