Opportunistic purveyors of counterfeit and shoddy personal protective equipment amid the COVID-19 pandemic take note: There’s a crackdown coming.

On May 5, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that investigators are teaming up with corporations that include 3M, Amazon, Merck, Pfizer, Citi and Alibaba to stem the flow of counterfeit face masks, coronavirus tests and other PPE equipment/medical supplies into the U.S.

The men and women of #HSI are focused on identifying and dismantling #COVID19 fraud schemes rapidly and effectively, allowing the public to focus on the health and safety of their loved ones. https://t.co/oo03UA6LsB pic.twitter.com/VuZHCi6Wsb

— ICE (@ICEgov) May 5, 2020

Agents from ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center will be key players in what authorities characterized as an unprecedented public-private partnership to combat fraud and other illegal activity surrounding COVID-19.

Investigators will work with the private companies to pinpoint suspect import shipments and root out bogus online listings for masks and other PPE gear. Crucial to the effort will be the private companies’ willingness to share important information and best practices, authorities said.

“Scammers and other criminals are exploiting this time of anxiety and uncertainty to take advantage of consumers’ fears, and HSI has made it a top priority to investigate anyone attempting to use the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud other people,” said HSI Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa D. Erichs (pictured on the left). “A robust partnership with the private sector is an absolute requirement to effectively disrupt and dismantle COVID-19 criminal networks and strengthen global supply-chain security.”

Conditions for coronavirus-related fraud are rife in the U.S. It’s a result of the skyrocketing rise in demand for masks, coronavirus tests, PPE equipment and medical supplies – demand that domestic capacity simply can’t meet. That’s led to an influx of imported products from questionable vendors, with some of the items being identified as counterfeit or of an inferior quality.

In April, ICE’s HSI launched Operation Stolen Promise to prevent and investigate illegal criminal activity surrounding the pandemic.

As of May 4, HSI special agents had opened more than 315 investigations nationwide and seized in excess of $3.2 million dollars in illicit proceeds. Agents have also made 11 arrests, executed 21 search warrants, analyzed more than 19,000 COVID-19 domain names, and worked alongside U.S. Customs and Border Protection to seize 494 shipments of mislabeled, fraudulent, unauthorized or prohibited COVID-19 test kits, treatment kits, homeopathic remedies, purported antiviral products and PPE.

Private companies are also individually taking action against would-be fraudsters. 3M, the world’s largest maker of N95 masks, has been at the forefront of that effort, filing approximately 10 lawsuits this spring that allege PPE price gouging or fraud against different entities.

On May 5, 3M won an injunction from a federal judge against an Englishtown, NJ-based company, Performance Supply LLC, that 3M accused of illegally using its trademarks to sell 3M-branded N95 respirator masks at inflated prices.

In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska blocked Performance Supply LLC from using 3M’s name and logo, or posing as an authorized 3M distributor, to help sell masks.