One of the biggest manufacturers of face masks in the world – 3M- has filed a series of legal actions and is working with law enforcement around the world to fight fraud, price gouging and counterfeiting
The American company said it was taking action this week to “protect the public from price gouging and fraud for respiratory protection equipment.”
It filed legal action Tuesday in the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario, accusing defendants, Zhiyu Pu and Harmen Mander - directors of Caonic Systems, Inc – of affiliating themselves with 3M to sell N95 respirators at “exorbitant prices” during the pandemic.
According to the law suit, the defendants registered 3M-Health.com on the Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify and, starting in March, sold respirators claiming to have originated from 3M certified suppliers in Singapore and the UK.
On March 31, at 3M's request, Shopify closed the site.
Caonic Systems immediately reopened another Shopify site as www.tormenhealth.com, and allegedly continued to claim an affiliation with 3M on social media.
After Shopify shut the second site, Caonic apparently persisted, relaunching briefly on another platform.
According to 3M, Caonic was selling the N95 respirators for $17.00 each, more than five times the appropriate retail price.
3M’s application to the court requests that it orders Caonic to “assist in identifying the location of any remaining respirators and sharing sales and customer information.
3M said will assist in evaluating the respirators' authenticity.
If the N95 masks are authentic, 3M will support returning them for use in efforts to fight COVID-19.
If not, 3M said it will inform Caonic's customers. Once the respirators are recovered, 3M will pursue damages, which the company said it will donate to COVID-19-related non-profit organizations.
"At 3M we are working hard to continue to increase production of respirators for the healthcare workers who need them the most in the fight against COVID-19," said Denise Rutherford, 3M senior vice president of corporate affairs.
"We are dedicated to putting a stop to those who are trying to cash in on this crisis and have taken legal action when we've identified illegal behaviour in New York, California, Florida, Texas, and now Canada."
3M has filed a series of legal actions in four U.S. states over the past week.
The company is working with national and international law enforcement, state Attorneys General, and the largest online retail and tech companies in the world to identify illegal activity and help punish criminals.
3M has not changed the prices it charges for respirators as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The company is working with online retailers and technology companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook to identify and remove counterfeiters and price gougers from their sites and refer them to law enforcement authorities.
Call 3M's hotline in the U.S. and Canada (800) 426-8688 for information on how to help identify authentic 3M products and to ensure products are from 3M authorized distributors.
If customers have concerns about potentially fraudulent activity, price gouging, or counterfeit 3M products, they can report their concerns at 3M's website.
