WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal agents have seized more than 10 million fake NM 3M masks in recent weeks, the result of an ongoing investigation into counterfeits that sell to hospitals, medical facilities and government agencies in at least five states. is.
The most recent seizures took place on Wednesday when Homeland Security agents intercepted hundreds of thousands of counterfeit 3M masks in a warehouse on the East Coast, officials said.
Investigators also notified about 6,000 potential victims in at least twelve states, including hospitals, medical facilities and others who may have unknowingly bought rash and urged them to stop using the masks of medical. Officials have urged medical workers and businesses to go to the 3Ms website for tips on detecting counterfeit.
‘They not only give a false sense of security, how dangerous is the exposed person without protective equipment? “They have no use at all,” Interior Minister Ali Mayorkas said of the fake masks.
The masks do not come through 3M’s regular distributors, they come from outside the normal supply chain, officials said. But hospitals and medical groups have increasingly gone through normal purchasing routines during the shortage of masks in the global pandemic, officials said. They said the scams took advantage of the panic over masks.
Homeland Security officials declined to say to which states the fake masks were sent, but said there would be criminal charges.
The rogue masks are not tested to see if they meet strict N95 standards and can endanger medical workers up front if used during the treatment of patients with COVID-19.
Nearly a year into the pandemic, fraud is still a major problem because scammers want to exploit hospitals and desperate Americans. Federal investigators say they have seen an increase in rogue websites indicating that vaccines are being sold, as well as counterfeit medicines manufactured abroad, and scams involving personal protective equipment. The schemes deliver modest products, unlike earlier in the pandemic, when fraudsters focused more on customers who focused.
3M, based in Maplewood, Minnesota, is one of the largest global producers of the N95 mask, approved by the US National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. It is considered the gold standard in protection against the coronavirus. The company delivered about 2 billion N95 masks in 2020 as the pandemic increased, but in the earlier months, when there were not enough masks, fraudsters took advantage.
So far during the pandemic, Homeland Security Investigations has used its 7,000 agents along with border officials, the Food and Drug Administration and the FBI to investigate the scams, seizing $ 33 million in pacifiers and arresting more than 200 people. The effort is based on the National Intellectual Property Coordination Center, a government watchdog aimed at enforcing international trade laws and combating intellectual property theft.
Over the past two weeks, federal agents have carried out search warrants and seized masks in five different states, and more action is expected. But deceptive masks have already reached the front line workers in other cases.
3M has been dealing with increasing fraud cases. In the past year, there have been more than 1,250 raids by law enforcers that have led to the seizure of millions of fake masks. The company has filed more than a dozen lawsuits on reports of fraud, counterfeiting and prize money.