Customs agents see rise in phony weight-loss drugs: 'You have no idea what's in here'
Weight-loss drugs promise to make the pounds melt away, and beauty products and fillers will erase those fine lines. But do you know what you're getting or where it's coming from?
Our sister station in Ohio, WLWT, got a rare inside look at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Cincinnati, where their officers are intercepting fake pharmaceuticals daily.
While most of you are sound asleep, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Cincinnati is buzzing with officers and drug dogs.
It's 2 a.m., but they're wide awake looking for illegal and fake pharmaceuticals trying to be shipped through Greater Cincinnati.
About 250,000 packages come through the facility every single day. Anywhere from 500 to 1,000 are flagged as suspicious.
"It's a never-ending battle, but our officers do an excellent job night after night, finding that proverbial needle in a haystack," Port Director Eric Zizelman said.
Within minutes of scanning and analyzing, officers find a giant stash of illegal marijuana hidden inside a kid’s gaming chair.
"Typical concealment method. We've seen this same concealment in the past," Zizelman said.
We watch as they find drugs and fake goods stashed in what looks like bags of dog and cat food, even a blow-up mattress.
These officers have seen it all, cocaine, meth, fentanyl, all headed to cities across the U.S. or other countries.
For years, they've intercepted things like counterfeit contact lenses, steroids, and medications. But the new hot fake freight is something many of you use or want.
"As you can see, this table is full. We see this daily," Chief Jeremy Clark said as he walked the WLWT crew into a room filled with bogus beauty products and weight loss drugs.
Clark immediately points to vials filled with a clear liquid. The labels look like a sheet of stickers that still need to be placed on the bottles, and all the serial numbers are the same.
Clark says they see this all the time these days.
"This is counterfeit. The labels are all counterfeit," Clark said.
Over the last 10 years, officers have seen a spike in fake fillers, Botox, and skin creams. To the average person, they look legit, but not to the experts.
"Certain fine line details on the packaging, the origin, where it's routing from. The totality of the circumstances would let us know if it's legitimate or not," Clark explains.
In the last 6 months, there's been a new demand.
Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro are so expensive people are willing to buy far cheaper knockoffs.
"The concern is how it's produced and what is in here. You have no idea what is in here," Clark said.
Zizelman echoed the chief's concern.
"You don't know if you're getting a legitimate product, and you don't know if you're getting a safe product. You might not even be getting the product that you're choosing to purchase in this manner," Zizelman said.
For some, the bargain is worth the risk. Since May, 65 shipments of phony weight-loss drugs worth $1.2 million have been seized in Cincinnati alone, and officers don't see things slowing down anytime soon.
So, Clark says, buyer beware!
"We say this with counterfeit purses and watches, but if the deal is too good to be true, there's a reason for it," he said.
Cincinnati Customs and Border Protection officers made 4,400 seizures in the last fiscal year. They're on pace to beat that number this year. As for the products seized, it all gets destroyed unless it's forfeiture by the FDA.
