PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Thursday that it recently had seized 22,000 counterfeit Pennsylvania vehicle inspection stickers that were shipped from Israel to Philadelphia with a total value — if they were real — of more than $1.4 million.

Customs and Border Protection officers encountered 10,000 suspected fake stickers on Nov. 26 in a parcel from Israel destined for an address in Philadelphia, and 12,000 suspected counterfeits on Dec. 9, the agency said.

Pennsylvania authorities confirmed that the stickers were counterfeit and the fakes were officially seized on Dec. 16, the agency said.

No immediate arrests were reported. The agency shared information about the seizure to other investigative agencies for possible further investigation.

Pennsylvania requires that vehicles be inspected annually to verify that they comply with minimum mechanical, safety, and emission standards. Stickers are given to vehicles that pass inspections.

A person buying a counterfeit sticker to bypass the inspection process — possibly to avoid expensive repairs — runs the risk of a $500 fine and potential jail time, the agency said.

“Unscrupulous actors peddling fraudulent vehicle inspection stickers create a very serious public safety concern. Fake inspection stickers mask unsafe motor vehicles that place all motorists on our roadways in harm,” Cleatus P. Hunt Jr., the agency’s area port director for the Area Port of Philadelphia, said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation could not be reached for comment late Thursday afternoon.

Fake inspection stickers in Pennsylvania are a persistent problem, though they usually are reported at a small scale.

The Pennsylvania State Police told CBS3 in 2022 that fake or stolen stickers are often sold on Craigslist, Facebook, and other online platforms.

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