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 worn by health professionals in Washington state, federal officials said on Wednesday when announcing an investigation.
Many of the masks were ingenious fakes, stamped with the 3M logo and shipped in boxes that read “Made in the USA”, although they were not made in the United States or by 3M, according to federal investigators.
Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, said that fraudulent masks are dangerous because they may not offer the same level of protection against coronavirus as legitimate N95 masks manufactured by 3M.
“We don’t know if they meet the standards,” said Brian Weinhaus, a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations.
The news of the investigation came when the intelligence arm of the Department of Homeland Security alerted law enforcement agencies separately on Wednesday that criminals on the dark web had been selling food and drug administration approved coronavirus vaccines for “hundreds of dollars since December.” per dose “.
This assessment, produced by the Office of Intelligence and Homeland Security Analysis and obtained by The New York Times, said that transnational criminal organizations in Latin America were probably better positioned to take advantage of the lack of legitimate vaccines to distribute counterfeit and stolen vaccines, although it was not clear whether they did.
Cassie Sauer, president and chief executive of the Washington State Hospital Association, said that about two million counterfeit N95 masks may have arrived in the state. Washington state hospitals bought hundreds of thousands of fraudulent masks, and the association itself bought 300,000 for its members, she said.
The masks were “really good fakes,” said Sauer, noting that they included a 3M logo, safety straps, a metal bar at the top and a foam strip on the nose.
“They look, feel, fit and breathe like a 3M mask,” she said. But they were not made by 3M, she said, and officials don’t know enough about them to know how protective they can be.
Many of the counterfeit masks were not used in Washington, Sauer said, noting that some 60,000 masks that the hospital’s association purchased were still in a warehouse. But some health professionals used them before the association received newsletters from 3M and the federal government and started alerting hospitals to fraud on Friday night, she said.
“It is extremely disheartening – very, very frustrating to discover that we have these masks,” said Sauer.
“Depravity is reprehensible,” added Sauer. “We are horrified.”
June Altaras, senior vice president and director of quality, safety and nursing at MultiCare Health System, which includes 10 hospitals in Washington, said some of the workers in her network wore the counterfeit N95 masks.
She said the authorities spent the past weekend collecting the fakes and replacing them with legitimate masks. She said the organization recommended that team members who treated patients with Covid-19 be tested for coronavirus.
“There is a special place in the afterlife for the people who would do this,” said Altaras, adding that the fraudulent masks created anxiety and fear among frontline healthcare professionals.
“Trying to make money from this situation is really very frustrating,” said Altaras. “These doctors have been through a lot.”
Coronavirus fraud has been a problem since the beginning of the pandemic, with unscrupulous companies looking to exploit the health crisis by selling fake test kits, treatments and personal protective equipment. Law enforcement officers have seized more than 10 million counterfeit respirators and hundreds of shipments of prohibited drugs and medical supplies, according to 3M and Homeland Security Investigations.
But the investigation of the fake mask, which was previously reported by The Associated Press, shows how these deceptive products have become increasingly sophisticated, officials said.
“We are all very careful and we try to check our sources and be very cautious about it,” said Shane McGuire, chief executive of Columbia County Health System in Washington. “But the bottom line is that the easiest to detect fraud has started to disappear and now you’re starting to see much, a much better construction and much more difficult to detect PPE ”
Weinhaus, the special agent, said that companies claiming to be medical suppliers were buying the imitation N95s, usually in China, and selling them as legitimate 3M masks. Many of the masks include a reflective seal with the word “Peru”, which 3M said it did not use outside of Latin America. Weinhaus said the agency was trying to track the respirators to the source and stop them at the border.
3M said it helped Washington, Minnesota and other states confirm that respirators purchased from distributors unrelated to 3M were not authentic 3M products. Although the company said it has increased production of N95 respirators, it has also started a global effort to combat fraud and price increases.
“As part of this effort, 3M is working with law enforcement and customs authorities to prevent the sale and manufacture of counterfeit 3M respirators,” said the company.