High Tariffs, High Stakes: The Rise in Customs Fraud and Enforcement Risk | Customs & International Trade Law Blog

As tariffs climb and international commerce grows extra complicated, a rising variety of importers are testing the bounds, or outright breaking the regulation, to cut back or keep away from obligation funds. U.S. enforcement companies, together with Customs and Border Safety (CBP) and the Division of Justice (DOJ), have made it clear that customs fraud won’t be tolerated and is a high enforcement precedence. 

Excessive Tariffs = Excessive Incentive to Cheat

Excessive tariffs create an incentive to cheat. Whether or not it’s by way of misclassifying items, undervaluing imports, or utilizing misleading transshipment routes, some corporations are turning to inventive or outright unlawful methods to cut back their tariff legal responsibility.

This isn’t theoretical, we’ve seen it earlier than. In the course of the U.S.–China commerce conflict of 2018–2019, there was a surge in country-of-origin fraud, significantly Chinese language items re-labeled as “Made in Vietnam.” Often known as a “nation of origin wash,” this apply misleads CBP and avoids duties tied to China. 

These incentives have contributed to the emergence of a cottage business of “tariff discount” corporations that publicize methods to chop import prices. Nevertheless, many of those so-called methods quantity to evasion, placing importers at severe authorized threat.

DOJ Prioritizes Customs Fraud

The Division of Justice is watching carefully. In a Might 2025 memo, Matthew Galeotti, head of the DOJ’s Prison Division, named commerce and customs fraud as one of many high enforcement priorities in white-collar crime.

The DOJ additionally expanded its Company Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program to incorporate customs fraud.

Even earlier than the newest memo, the DOJ has demonstrated a willingness to criminally cost dangerous actors with customs fraud. For instance, in 2024, a Florida couple was sentenced to just about 5 years in jail for evading over $42 million in duties.

CBP’s Place: Zero Tolerance

Whereas CBP hasn’t issued a proper enforcement priorities memo like DOJ, its current public messaging leaves no room for doubt. In Might 2025, the company warned the pharmaceutical business that undervaluing items quantities to commerce evasion. Moreover, a LinkedIn put up from the company acknowledged: “CBP targets and combats obligation evasion at each stage. Make no mistake – dangerous actors violating U.S. commerce regulation might be recognized, investigated, and punished to the fullest extent of the regulation.”

Widespread Prison Costs in Customs Instances

The DOJ has a number of accessible statutory choices in pursuing prison instances towards corporations and people who violate customs legal guidelines. Generally used federal prison statutes that would apply to customs fraud instances embody:

False Classification (18 U.S.C. § 541)
Underpayment of Duties (18 U.S.C. § 543)
Smuggling (18 U.S.C. § 545)
False Claims (18 U.S.C. § 287)
False Statements (18 U.S.C. §§ 1001 & 542)
Wire Fraud (18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 & 1349)
Worldwide Emergency Financial Powers Act (IEEPA) Violations (50 U.S.C. § 1701)
Conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 371)

Penalties can embody fines, imprisonment, and forfeiture.

The False Claims Act: Rising Danger & Large Payouts

The False Claims Act (FCA) has lengthy been used to prosecute fraud towards the federal government, however it’s more and more getting used to pursue importers who misstate info to keep away from paying import duties. Misrepresenting a product’s origin or worth to underpay is named a “reverse” false declare – basically, a fraud to keep away from paying cash owed to the federal government (versus fraud associated to the quantity paid by the federal government).

FCA penalties are steep; violators might be made to pay as much as triple the quantity of the underpaid duties, plus further fines for every violation. These fines add up quick when each customs entry can depend as a separate false assertion. 

Moreover, the FCA supplies massive incentives for whistleblowers. The regulation permits personal people (generally known as “relators”) to file qui tam lawsuits on behalf of the federal government in the event that they know of an organization dodging its duties. Whistleblowers are sometimes an organization’s personal worker or an organization’s competitor.. These whistleblowers can accumulate 15–30% of any restoration, which, given the treble damages, might be large. In a single case in 2024, a Wisconsin-based whistleblower obtained a $1.4M payout.

What Importers Ought to Do

Now greater than ever, it’s important for importers to look at their import compliance applications and make sure that ample procedures are in place to accurately enter items into america. Importers ought to proactively conduct in depth due diligence of their provide chains to make sure they’ll detect, report, and treatment any noncompliance with customs necessities. As well as, if an importer turns into conscious of the fraudulent conduct of a competitor, they need to contact counsel to debate choices for reporting it to the federal government.

Diaz Commerce Regulation can help importers in growing compliance plans and information importers within the occasion of a customs investigation. Contact us at 305-456-3830 or data@diaztradelaw.com.

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