Customs Fraud

The deliberate misrepresentation of an imported or exported good's value, quantity, country of origin, or tariff classification to a customs authority, in order to evade a duty, tax or trade restriction that would otherwise apply, documented forms of which include undervaluing goods on a customs declaration, falsely declaring a lower-tariff classification for goods that actually belong to a higher-tariff category, and transshipping goods through a third country to disguise their true country of origin and avoid an anti-dumping duty or trade sanction directed specifically at the true origin country. Customs authorities including the United States Customs and Border Protection agency and the World Customs Organization document customs fraud as both a direct source of lost government revenue and, in some documented cases, a mechanism used alongside separate offenses such as money laundering or sanctions evasion.