Middle-East Fake Jewelry Crisis as Global Counterfeit Trade Hits $467B

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Counterfeit jewelry and luxury watches are emerging as a major concern for Middle-East markets, as a review by Marsad Al Dahab highlights a $467 billion global counterfeit trade and a regional information gap. Despite customs crackdowns, fragmented records leave authorities without a clear picture of how much fake jewelry enters Arab markets, where it originates, or which routes bring it to buyers.

The review draws together international reports, customs seizures, digital platform disclosures, and criminal investigations to show how counterfeiters exploit prestigious brands. Across these sources, this Gems News report examines a troubling combination: valuable goods moving through small shipments, expanding online promotion, and regional statistics that rarely separate jewelry and watches from other merchandise. The result is evidence of enforcement activity without a dependable measure of the market itself.

A Global Figure with Important Limits

The $467 billion estimate comes from a joint OECD and European Union Intellectual Property Office report published in May 2025 using 2021 data. It represents approximately 2.3 percent of global imports and measures cross-border trade in counterfeit and pirated goods.

It excludes domestic counterfeit sales and does not capture every illicit activity or digital piracy. Nor is there a reliable standalone global estimate for counterfeit jewelry, which customs systems sometimes group with watches, accessories, or leather goods.

Watches nevertheless accounted for 23 percent of the estimated value of worldwide seizures during 2020 and 2021, ahead of footwear at 15 percent. Those shares reflect value, rather than the number of intercepted items.

Swiss Watchmakers Count the Cost

An OECD report published in July 2025 estimated that goods infringing Swiss intellectual property rights were worth $4.7 billion in 2021. Counterfeit watches bearing Swiss trademarks represented $1.88 billion, more than 40 percent of that total.

The estimated damage extended beyond copied designs. Swiss watchmakers lost approximately $1.08 billion in sales, equivalent to 4.2 percent of sector revenue, while around 2,537 jobs were lost, representing 4.5 percent of industry employment.

China and Hong Kong accounted for 84 percent of the estimated value of seized counterfeit Swiss watches during 2020 and 2021, underscoring their prominence in the recorded supply chain.

Jewelry Tops American Seizure Values

US Customs and Border Protection figures for fiscal year 2025 recorded 25,079 intellectual property seizures involving approximately 78.4 million items. Their estimated retail value, had they been genuine, reached $7.4 billion, compared with $5.4 billion in 2024 and approximately $2.8 billion in 2023.

Jewelry led the categories at $3.2 billion, followed by watches at approximately $1.5 billion. Handbags and wallets exceeded $978 million. Marsad Al Dahab calculated that jewelry represented approximately 43 percent of total seizure value, while jewelry and watches together accounted for around 63.5 percent.

These figures describe the retail value of equivalent authentic products. They do not reveal counterfeit selling prices, criminal profits, or the total size of the illicit market.

Small Parcels Carry Huge Brand Values

Individual interceptions illustrate why luxury counterfeiting can produce dramatic totals. In August 2026, officers in Indianapolis intercepted a Hong Kong shipment bound for Georgia containing 875 counterfeit jewelry pieces and five handbags. Marks included Cartier, Tiffany & Co., and Van Cleef & Arpels; the goods would have exceeded $3.7 million if genuine.

At Louisville on June 18, 2026, a Hong Kong shipment destined for New York contained 375 counterfeit Audemars Piguet watches with a potential genuine retail value above $54 million.

Such cases also highlight the inspection challenge posed by small parcels. Counterfeit networks can divide shipments into individual orders, complicating efforts to identify suspicious goods across busy delivery channels.

Online Promotion Expands the Problem

TikTok reported rejecting more than 40 million products before listing during the first half of 2025 for intellectual property violations, then removing more than two million additional products after publication.

It also reported removing more than 143 million videos under rules prohibiting counterfeit trading, marketing, or facilitated access, alongside more than 530,000 creator videos and livestreams involving intellectual property infringements.

These company-reported figures cover multiple product categories and are not independently audited jewelry statistics. They nevertheless show how enforcement increasingly begins with advertisements, seller accounts, and livestreams before physical goods reach customs.

Criminal Links Reach Beyond Luxury Goods

A Europol-supported operation in March 2024 exposed suspected connections between counterfeit luxury watches, drug trafficking, and money laundering. Searches across Belgium, Israel, the Netherlands, and Slovakia resulted in 15 arrests.

Authorities seized 165 luxury watches accompanied by certificates, jewelry, other counterfeit products, 200 diamonds, €209,000 in cash, cryptocurrency ledgers, weapons, and approximately 14 kilograms of drugs.

Investigators described watches assembled outside the European Union using genuine and counterfeit components, then imported into Belgium. The case revealed Europe’s role in distribution and financing as well as consumption.

Regional Enforcement Lacks a Shared Picture

Dubai Customs recorded 285 intellectual property seizures worth approximately AED 92.695 million in 2024, followed by 68 seizures worth AED 42.195 million during the first quarter of 2025. Categories included watches and numerous other goods.

Morocco reported approximately 896,000 goods involved in customs-release suspensions in 2025, valued at MAD 11.1 million, without separately identifying jewelry or explaining the valuation basis in that section.

Marsad Al Dahab found no recent publicly available Egyptian or Saudi customs figures separating counterfeit jewelry and watches as of September 2026. These gaps prevent meaningful regional comparisons.

An OECD and EUIPO report published in January 2026 also associated counterfeit exporting with forced labor, hazardous child labor, informal employment, and fatal workplace accidents. The findings describe statistical relationships, however, and do not establish that counterfeiting directly causes these abuses.

A Stronger Regional Response

The review recommends a shared database recording product categories, quantities, origins, shipment routes, and valuation methods. It also calls for supplier disclosure, digital certificates, serial numbers, and closer links between counterfeiting, money laundering, and labor exploitation investigations.

GCCPOL could coordinate existing agencies, although the review found no publicly announced GCCPOL-led operation specifically targeting counterfeit jewelry or watches. For Middle-East markets, stronger cooperation and clearer records would help turn scattered interceptions into actionable intelligence, protect legitimate jewelers, and give buyers greater confidence in the authenticity of expensive purchases.

Reference:

https://marsadaldahab.com