The U.S. Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, Global Trade and Investigations division recently announced that it has seized over 11 million counterfeit N95 respirators as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. The seizures were part of Operation Stolen Promise which targets COVID-19 related fraud. A description of that initiative can be found here: https://www.ice.gov/topics/operation-stolen-promise.

N95 respirators offer the highest level of protection against infection and as such are in demand. The counterfeit respirators are made to resemble those produced by the 3M Company and were distributed to frontline health-care workers. Unfortunately, the pandemic has given unscrupulous actors a ready market for their counterfeits.

Oftentimes, it is hard to distinguish between a counterfeit and a genuine article. The National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory which is housed within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health which operates within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published guidance in identifying counterfeit respirators: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/usernotices/counterfeitResp.html.  The 3M Company has also implemented Safe Guard™ to assist consumers in identifying authentic products: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/worker-health-safety-us/3m-safeguard/.