Millions of counterfeit masks have been purchased by hospitals, medical institutions and government agencies in at least five states – and some of them have been used by health care workers in the state of Washington, federal authorities said Wednesday in an investigation.
Many of the masks were cleverly fake, stamped with the 3M logo and shipped in boxes labeled “Made in the USA,” although according to federal investigators, they were not made in the United States or by 3M.
Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, said the fraudulent masks are dangerous because they may not offer the same protection against the coronavirus as legitimate N95 masks manufactured by 3M.
“We do not know if it meets the standards,” said Brian Weinhaus, a special agent at Homeland Security Investigations.
The news of the investigation came when the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence branch separately warned law enforcement agencies on Wednesday that criminals on the dark web since December had coronavirus vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration for ‘hundreds of dollars per dose ‘sold.
This review, compiled by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis and obtained by The New York Times, said that transnational criminal organizations in Latin America are probably in the best position to take advantage of a shortage of legal entities. vaccines to distribute counterfeit and stolen vaccines, although it was unclear whether they did.
Cassie Sauer, president and CEO of the Washington State Hospital Association, said about two million counterfeit N95 masks could make it into the state. Washington hospitals bought hundreds of thousands of the fraudulent masks, and the association itself bought 300,000 for its members.
The masks were ‘very good imitations’, said me. Sauer said and noted that they feature a 3M logo, secure straps, a metal bar at the top and a foam strip over the nose.
“They look, they feel, they fit and breathe like a 3M mask,” she said. But they were not made by 3M, and officials do not know enough about them to know how protective they can be.
Many of the counterfeit masks were not used in Washington, she said. Sauer said, noting that approximately 60,000 masks purchased by the hospital association are still in a warehouse. But some health workers did use it before the association received bulletins from 3M and the federal government and hospitals began warning of the fraud late Friday, she said.
“It’s incredibly discouraging – really very frustrating to discover that we have these masks,” she said. Sauer said.
“It’s reprehensible, the depravity,” she said. Sauer added. “We are terrified.”
June Altaras, senior vice president and chief executive officer of quality, safety and nursing at MultiCare Health System, which includes ten hospitals in Washington, said some of the workers in his network used the counterfeit N95 masks.
She said officials spent the past weekend replacing the counterfeiters with legitimate masks. She said the organization recommended that staff members who treated Covid-19 patients should be tested for the coronavirus.
“There’s a special place in the afterlife for people who would do that,” she said. Altaras said, adding that the fraudulent masks caused anxiety and fear among health workers in the front line.
“Trying to make money from this situation is really very frustrating,” she said. Altaras said. “These clinicians have had enough.”
Coronavirus fraud has been a problem since the beginning of the pandemic, with unscrupulous companies seeking to exploit the health crisis by selling fake test kits, treatments and personal protective equipment. Law enforcement officers seized more than 10 million counterfeit respirators and hundreds of shipments of drugs and medical supplies, according to 3M and Homeland Security Investigations.
But the investigation into the counterfeit mask, previously reported by The Associated Press, shows how these misleading products have become increasingly sophisticated, officials said.
“We are all very careful and try to check our resources and guard against them,” said Shane McGuire, chief executive of the Columbia County Health System in Washington. ‘But the bottom line is that the easier-to-detect scams have started to disappear, and now you’re starting to see much, much better construction and much harder to detect PPE ”
Mr. Weinhaus, the special agent, said companies claiming to be medical suppliers buy the copycat N95s, usually in China, and sell them as legal 3M masks. Many of the masks contain a reflective seal with the word “Peru”, which according to 3M is not used outside Latin America. Mr. Weinhaus said the agency is trying to track the respirators back to the source and stop them at the border.
3M said it helped Washington, Minnesota and other states confirm that respirators purchased from distributors without any relationship to 3M were not authentic 3M products. While the company said it had increased production of N95 respirators, it said it had also embarked on a global effort to combat fraud and prize money.
“As part of the effort, 3M is working with law enforcement and customs agencies to prevent the sale and manufacture of counterfeit 3M respirators,” the company said.