Your Solar Panels Fake? Customs Makes Huge Fraud Bust

The estimated resale market value of the panels was said to be over $1.42 million dollars.

 US Customs raids shipment finds a huge stash of counterfeit panels in New Mexico

Just because the bust happened in New Mexico doesn't mean panels don't work their way across the country.

US Customs and Border Patrol agents released information Thursday about a huge bust on July 4th that resulted in nearly 9,100 panels being seized. The shipment had come from Vietnam.

  What was wrong with them?

There are two ways criminals try to shill these products. One, they attempt to copy the trademarks and quality assurance markings from legitimate manufacturers. The other is, that they simply don't put them on the panels.

In this case, US Customs determined the trademarks, or watermarks were fake. The manufacturer was contacted and they said the panels were not theirs.

The panels were seized, a total of nearly 9,100.  Despite efforts such as these, there are still a number of panels that make their way to retailers and customers that are technically illegal.  The biggest issue, say officials, is these counterfeit panels are often substandard and can even be dangerous to consumers.

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In 2021, a similar large shipment of panels was intercepted in Baltimore that had come from China.