Mateen Mohammad Alinaghian, Counterfeit Airbag Sale, North Carolina 2024

Raleigh Man Sentenced to Prison for Selling Counterfeit Car Airbags

A federal judge has sentenced a Raleigh man to one year and a day in prison for selling thousands of counterfeit car airbags in the Raleigh area. Mateen Mohammad Alinaghian, 31, was found guilty of importing and selling the fake airbags over the past two years.

According to court documents, Alinaghian imported approximately 2,500 counterfeit airbags from a supplier in the United Kingdom between May 2022 and April 2024. The airbags were sold to unsuspecting customers using fake profiles on Facebook Marketplace, including “Matt AutoParts” and “Medo Smith.”

Testing done by Honda, General Motors, and Toyota revealed that the counterfeit airbags were not manufactured by the car companies and often included materials of lesser quality. In some cases, the airbags malfunctioned, either not fully inflating or inflating late, posing a potentially serious risk of injury to the vehicle driver.

The investigation, led by the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), included a search of Alinaghian’s house, which resulted in the seizure of approximately 20 counterfeit airbags. Multiple seizures were also made by Customs and Border Control of in-bound packages from the United Kingdom containing counterfeit airbags en route to Alinaghian.

Alinaghian was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $83,405.95 to the victims who unknowingly purchased a counterfeit airbag, and to the car manufacturers. He was also ordered to forfeit $154,693.16.

U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle said, “Selling fake airbags recklessly puts our citizens in danger. This sentence makes clear that we do not tolerate criminals who endanger drivers on our roads. We will keep working with our partners to take these threats off the streets and out of our cars.”

Individuals who suspect they purchased a counterfeit airbag should contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for more information.

MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS

White Collar Crime

Miyamoto Yoshio, Securities Fraud, Alaska 1967

Oct 24, 1967

White Collar Crime

Jose Javier Alvarez, Wire Fraud, South Carolina 2023

Jan 15, 2023

White Collar Crime

David Ralph Streng, Hazardous Waste Crime, CA 2006

Apr 4, 2001

White Collar Crime

Wilfredo Baquero, Money Laundering, Nevada 1988

Jan 15, 1988