Nearly 59,000 ‘potentially dangerous’ counterfeit COVID-19 face masks seized, feds say
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in the mid-Atlantic region have been seizing counterfeit COVID-19 face masks and unapproved medications and test kits since mid-August, officials announced on Wednesday.
Nearly 59,000 face masks with designer labels, sports team logos, cartoon characters, and car manufacturers violated trademark protections. Officials say that had the face masks been authentic, the retail price would have been around $2.5 million.
“The volume of counterfeit COVID-19 face masks is astonishing and further evidence that predatory scammers will take advantage of an international pandemic to line their greedy pockets by peddling illicit and potentially dangerous products as legitimate COVID-19 personal protective equipment,” said the director of field operations for CBP’s Baltimore Field Office, Casey Durst. “Customs and Border Protection officers remain committed to working with our consumer safety partners and protecting American consumers by intercepting these potentially harmful shipments.”
The largest shipment of the face masks – 17,220 – was seized by officers at the Port of Pittsburgh on Sept. 1 after arriving from Hong Kong, destined for Allegheny County, Pa.
Along with the counterfeit face masks, officers also seized 916 tablets of COVID-related medications and 134 COVID-19 test kits and antibody tests.
According to the news release, the “test kits and medications are not on the current Emergency Use Authorization List nor are the manufacturers on the list of firms who have provided compliance notification to the FDA.”
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Nearly 59,000 ‘potentially dangerous’ counterfeit COVID-19 face masks seized, feds say."