3M, parent company of Top 40 promotional products supplier 3M/Promotional Markets (asi/91240), provided leads that helped federal authorities seize more than 11 million counterfeit N95 masks in recent weeks.

Many of the masks, authorities said in a Wednesday, Feb. 17 announcement, were bound for frontline healthcare workers.

The latest seizure – a haul of some 1 million knockoffs made to look like genuine 3M N95 respirator masks – occurred on Feb. 17.

At a press conference, U.S. Homeland Security officials stressed that the counterfeit masks jeopardize the health, and the lives, of healthcare workers amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“They’re extremely dangerous,” said Steve K. Francis, assistant director for the Global Trade Investigations Division of Homeland Security Investigations. “They’re providing a false sense of security to our first-line responders, to American consumers. I can’t stress how important it is to ensure that we have the legitimate 3M N95 masks that are being deployed to our first responders.”

Citing the ongoing investigation, authorities were scant on details about the seizures. They noted that arrests are forthcoming and said they’ve notified about 6,000 suspected fraud victims in at least 12 states. Those who fell prey to the fraudsters include hospitals and medical facilities.

“We are at a vulnerable time, of course, with the pandemic costing so many lives and causing so much harm,” said U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. “And that individuals, criminals exploit our vulnerabilities for a quick buck is something that we will continue to aggressively pursue.”

Mayorkas credited 3M with providing intelligence that criminals were selling counterfeit N95 masks to healthcare workers and first responders. That helped fuel investigations that led the largescale seizures of fake masks over the last couple of weeks.

The collaboration with law enforcement “has helped prevent millions of counterfeit respirators from reaching frontline workers,” Kevin Rhodes, 3M deputy general counsel, said in a statement. “We are committed to fighting the pandemic from all angles – manufacturing needed PPE, working to prevent counterfeiting, and helping ensure N95s get to where they are needed the most.”

3M’s N95 masks have been in high demand during the pandemic because they provide 95% efficiency at filtering out airborne particles, which helps protect against the spread of the coronavirus. The high demand has resulted in pervasive counterfeiting.

To combat that and other pandemic-related fraud, Homeland Security and partners launched Operation Stolen Promise in April 2020. The operation remains ongoing.

To prevent getting scammed and unwittingly buying counterfeit N95s, authorities said would-be buyers should purchase directly from 3M or an entity that has been verified as an authorized 3M dealer.

With estimated 2019 North American promotional product revenue of $88.4 million, 3M/Promotional Markets ranked 17th on ASI Media’s most recent list of the largest suppliers in the industry.

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