Police Bust Multiple Cases of FAKE Masks! Be Careful!

Source: JobTube, Arianna J., Josh B.

On February 4, Beijing Municipal Bureau of market supervision and administration announced that recently, Beijing had solved the first case of fake branded masks across multiple provinces, and has seized four suspects and more than 21,000 masks. The masks were branded as 3M.

On January 30, according to online clues, the food and drug inspection team of Beijing Market Supervision Bureau, together with Beijing police, found fake "3M" masks in a drugstore in Chaoyang District. After interrogation, the suspect Li (male, 37 years old, from Beijing) confessed that he bought fake 3M masks from Gaomi, Shandong, and distributed them to Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. Police seized more than 21,000 fake 3M masks in Li's warehouse.

On February 1, with the cooperation of Taiyuan police in Shanxi Province, two other suspects were arrested. On February 2, Shandong Gaomi police arrested several people suspected of producing fake 3M masks.

Multiple Cases Busted

In recent days, cases of fake masks have been reported repeatedly.

According to People's Daily, Shijiazhuang police arrested a suspect who sold 2 million fake masks on January 31 and destroyed the fake manufacturing dens;

According to Legaldaily.com.cn, on February 4, Ningxia cracked a case of fake masks and seized more than 50,000 counterfeits;

According to FM968 Chongqing, on February 2, Chongqing police cracked a case of fake brand masks, arrested five suspects and seized 16,000 counterfeit 3M masks.

The market supervision and administration department remind that people should purchase protective equipment through regular channels and ask for vouchers such as invoices or receipts; should not be credulous about WeChat sellers or entrust others to do the purchase, to avoid health risks. When encounter fake products or price gouging, people can call 12315 for help.

How to Make Sure a Mask is Authentic

1. Purchase through formal channels.

Buy masks from brand drugstores, community hospitals and other regular channels.

2. A 3-step check of the package.

Step 1: Check whether the packaging is complete and tidy.

Step 2: Check the printing of labels and instructions.

Authentic products are printed clearly. For the ones with a logo on, it is particularly important to distinguish the "LA".

Step 3: Check the manufacture information, including the production date, manufacturer, national standard number, the warranty period, etc.

3. Identification of Medical Masks

The packaging of medical masks are printed with medical protective mask(KN95/N95), production standard GB190832010, or medical surgical mask, production standard YY0469-2011.

Alternative international standards are:

• N95 (United States NIOSH-42CFR84)

• FFP2 (Europe EN 149-2001)

• KN95 (China GB2626-2006

• P2 (Australia/New Zealand AS/NZA 1716:2012)
  

• Korea 1st class (Korea KMOEL - 2017-64)

• DS (Japan JMHLW-Notification 214, 2018)

In addition, consumers can log on the website of the State Drug Administration to identify.

A. Log in to the State Drug Administration at http://www.nmpa.gov.cn (Tap and Hold the Link to Copy) and then Click medical device query to select domestic device or imported device ;

B. Enter the registration certificate number; and then select the corresponding product;

C. Verify the product name (medical surgical mask or medical protective mask) and production standard (GB19083-2010 or YY0469-2011, or the above other standards).

4. Identification of 3M masks

A. Check the Packaging;

B. Scan the QR code on the instruction inside the package;

C. Check the details of the masks;

At a press conference on the morning of February 3, per the Ministry of industry and information technology, Chinas overall production capacity of masks is more than 20 million per day, which is also the largest in the world. The shortages of masks and test kits will be resolved soon.

 For more Wuhan Virus News:

• App To Assist Avoiding Wuhan Virus & Finding Clinics
  

• Wuhan Virus Live Data, now available in English

• I survived Wuhan Virus, This is my Story - Interview!

• The Source of Wuhan Virus Has been Confirmed Now!

• How to Keep Yourself Safe from the Wuhan Virus!

• 8 Key Questions About New Coronavirus

\n