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Recently, a big bombshell broke out in the industry again! In the United States, more than 160,000 fake US postal labels from China were checked. These fake US postal labels (i.e. "fake labels") were used for cross-border packages to evade tariffs and reduce logistics costs. If the fake labels were genuine, their total face value would exceed $118,000! This incident not only involved sellers on Temu and other platforms, but also prompted Temu to take swift and severe measures in response, which had an impact on the entire cross-border e-commerce logistics industry. US CBP strictly investigates cross-border logistics fraud According to a news release from CBP, last week, the Chicago branch intercepted 8 batches of goods and found a total of 161,860 counterfeit USPS labels in them, and all the seized packages came from China! CBP officials sternly pointed out that the craftsmanship of counterfeit labels is becoming increasingly sophisticated, especially during the critical holiday period, when their number is showing a blowout growth. Many people may buy these fake stamps at low prices, affecting the normal delivery of mail. "Fake delivery bills" are also known in the industry as "fake accounts or fake delivery bills". Their essence is to take advantage of loopholes in the USPS system to illegally open accounts or create delivery bills in order to evade express service fees. Specifically, this behavior manifests itself in refusing to pay after enjoying express delivery services, or maliciously delaying payment after attracting goods through low-price strategies and refusing to bear freight in order to significantly reduce logistics costs. For example, normal logistics costs may be as high as more than $10 per package, while the use of "surface delivery" may reduce the cost to $3-5. This huge cost difference is very attractive to both sellers and freight forwarders, especially for small sellers with meager profits or new entrants, because their logistics costs can be saved by more than 50% compared with regular channels. As more and more sellers adopt this unfair means, USPS has suffered significant economic losses due to these fraudulent activities. The eight batches of goods seized this time were sent from China, so the United States is now strengthening supervision of small packages from China. Foreign media revealed the inside story of selling fake orders According to foreign media reports, Xiaohongshu is the main "battlefield" for transactions. If you search for "USPS shipping label" on Xiaohongshu, you will find that many users are secretly selling counterfeit USPS labels (fake shipping labels), asking for 60-80 cents each, and guaranteeing that they can be used normally throughout the United States. What's more, some suppliers are still promoting fake UPS shipping labels. These sellers who use fake shipping labels often work with small warehouses in the United States that are willing to take legal risks. The sellers send the digital files of the counterfeit labels to the warehouses, and the warehouse staff print and stick them on the packages before sending them to the post office. Some sellers can even buy 2,000-3,000 sheets in a day and send them to the warehouse in the United States in PDF format. A large part of them are sellers on Temu.
This set of operations may seem simple, but in fact it is a crazy attempt to test the edge of illegality. Once seized, not only may the goods be seized and confiscated, but also a high fine may be imposed, and even the store may be closed and cash withdrawals frozen ! Since last year, the industry has conducted many strict investigations and punishments on missing shipping documents and missing accounts, causing many freight forwarders to suffer heavy losses or even go bankrupt. One owner of an eyewear company in Shanghai revealed that she had purchased hundreds of counterfeit USPS shipping labels from a warehouse operator, but the shipments she subsequently sent were seized by postal authorities, causing her to lose more than $10,000 worth of products and receive a TEMU fine for failing to deliver on time. Temu severely punishes accounts that leak money In response to foreign media reports and public doubts, the Temu platform personally stepped in to investigate the leakage of funds! Temu made it clear: " The platform strictly prohibits the use of counterfeit labels, and any merchant involved in fraudulent behavior will face account suspension, fines and potential legal action. Once such behavior is discovered, the platform will remove the merchant account from the entire store and restrict withdrawals ." So far, hundreds of Temu sellers’ accounts have been closed and restricted from withdrawing funds , including some of the top sellers with the highest sales volume. This is the first time they have been found to have violated regulations. The "strictest policy action in history" also shows the platform's determination and strength in combating fraud. With the rapid development of the cross-border e-commerce industry, fraud is increasing. The US Customs’ seizure of fake shipping documents and the platform’s severe crackdown once again remind cross-border e-commerce practitioners to abide by laws and regulations and operate in good faith. If they take advantage of loopholes to save costs, they are likely to face retribution later! !
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