IPR Center, MLB warn Phoenix and Dallas fans of fake merchandise, tickets during 2023 World Series

WASHINGTON — As the 2023 World Series gets underway, baseball fans are heading to Phoenix and Dallas to support their favorite teams and purchase officially licensed gear and memorabilia. With high demand for merchandise, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, joins the MLB in cautioning fans to be on the lookout for online and in-person counterfeiters attempting to sell unauthorized, knockoff products and tickets.

In 2022, authorities seized more than 180,000 counterfeit sports-related items worth an estimated $22.7 million through Operation Team Player, a collaborative public-private sector operation targeting international shipments of counterfeit merchandise into the United States with brand owners and e-commerce marketplaces.

The MLB has a comprehensive anti-counterfeiting program, including official holograms affixed to all officially licensed products to protect fans from buying counterfeits. Counterfeiters target major events, such as the World Series, where fans are eager to take home memorable keepsakes.

To avoid being victimized by counterfeiters, HSI and the MLB encourage fans to:

• Shop at MLB-authorized retail locations rather than street vendors, flea markets or other questionable sources.
• Look for the official MLB hologram sticker or holographic hangtag and a sewn-in or screen-printed label identifying the name of the MLB licensee.
• Check for ripped tags, irregular markings or misspellings on apparel.
• Beware of vendors offering counterfeit paper tickets for sale. Only digital tickets will be issued to the 2023 MLB World Series in Texas and Arizona, and you should purchase tickets directly from Rangers.com, Dbacks.com, Tickets.com, SeatGeek or MLB’s Official-Fan-to-Fan Marketplace.

Throughout this year’s World Series, the IPR Center is joining MLB in working closely with federal, state and local law enforcement partners who will be enforcing laws prohibiting the sale of counterfeit MLB merchandise.

Counterfeiting is not a victimless crime. It violates trademark-holder rights, causes small businesses that purchase vendor licenses to sell official merchandise to lose revenue, and costs consumers their hard-earned money on substandard products and exposes them to financial schemes.

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 related to the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods. The center was established to stop predatory, illegal trade practices that threaten the public's health and safety, the U.S. economy and national security.