Fake 3M masks entered the market, how to tell genuine from fake?

One of the most underestimated things in life is greed, and one of the most sought after items during this time is, without a doubt, a mask. With huge demand, it is human nature to invent ways to reduce manufacturing costs. Some of these ways can be effective in producing cost-effective items that benefit society, but some of these ways may allow elements of greed to take over, then the whole game changes and we can expect more damaging products flocking in the market. 

1

Recycling is usually associated with "good," good for humanity, environment, etc. But the bigger issue here is... Who is recycling masks? Who will the person on the above picture go to sell those used masks s/he collected from the garbage bin? 

2

Be careful, the mask you bought may be fake.

On January 23rd, law enforcement officers in Jinhua city seized 250,000  3M masks. The workshops that produced the masks do not have any disinfection and sterilization equipment, and the workshop's environment does not meet the production standards of masks. Some are only employees who pack masks by hand.

What is even more unacceptable is that some of these masks were to be  delivered to Wuhan, the most severely affected area of the epidemic!

The workshop environment

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On January 25, netizens successively broke the news on Weibo, a small workshop in Yiwu, Zhejiang was producing 7 million KN95 masks, which will soon flow into the market. After the post went viral, Yiwu City Market Supervision Administration Bureau's official Weibo replied: 

"Already on it. For now, the law enforcement officers of our bureau have been dispatched to carry out inspections. If any illegal operations are found, they will be severely investigated and punished."

At 11:25 on the same day, Yiwu Market Supervision and Administration Bureau posted on Weibo saying that: after receiving a report from netizens, our bureau immediately went to check and seized 70 boxes of "Qingqing" brand disposable masks, totaling more than 100,000 masks. 11 boxes which  didn't carry a logo/brand name, with a total of more than 50,000 masks. No "3M" logo masks were found. At present, law enforcement officials have seized the aforementioned items, and the next step will be to dispose them in accordance with the actual investigation.

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Fake masks gangs on Wechat: 7,500 boxes of fake masks flow into the wechat resellers circle! 

The above situations can also explain how the so called "WeChat Business People" in our moments can easily obtain a large number of 3M brand masks while the product is already sold out in its flagship stores. Even some overseas purchasing agents have stated that since the epidemic, 7,500 cases of fake masks have flowed into the purchasing circle , and it is just the tip of the iceberg.

Translation: 7500 fake masks have entered resellers circle, and this is just the tip of an iceberg, people need to use common sense, n95 is a medical item, the country doesn't allow individuals to sell them. Furthermore, import Qualification standard(for these items) is very high, the process is complicated, and it takes a long time, the legally approved pharmacy and distributors are all out of stock, where does a reseller get the 7500 boxes? I just want to ask one question, which customs will easily allow 7500 boxes of smuggled medical items to enter.

5

220,000 pairs of "3M masks" were seized in Jiangdu and upon investigation were found to be all fakes. The gang used forged trademarks to manufacture fake top American brand 3M masks. The 12 suspects appeared in Guangling Court for trial.

Yangzhou police received clues from the Ministry of Public Security that an old factory building near Zhang Gang in Jiangdu had a den producing fake 3M masks. After the raid on the fake den, the police seized a large number of fake trademarks and finished products at the scene. 

According to Pan Wei, the squad leader of the Economic Investigation Brigade of the Jiangdu Public Security Bureau, at that time, the police seized more than 220,000 finished and semi-finished masks suspected of counterfeiting 3M registered trademarks, 20,000 '3M' printed cardboard boxes, and various masks, and outer packaging cartons.

The police investigation found that the production environment of this den was not equipped with any necessary safety protection facilities such as dust protection and air purification, furthermore, the masks produced did not meet the corresponding sanitary standards at all. Pan Wei said that not only the registered trademark was faked, but once their mask was worn, they could also damage the wearer's health.

After controlling Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Ding who were heading the den, the police followed suit and seized fifteen people involved in the production and packaging of counterfeit 3M mask-related signs. The 12 defendants who made and sold fake 3M mask appeared in Guangling Court for trial. 

It is understood that Mr. and Mrs. Wang started to produce masks with normal brands, but because of greed, they started producing fake 3M masks. The manufacturing cost of fake 3M masks is extremely low, but when they are sold, they are sold from a few to more than one hundred yuan, which generates huge profits. The couple ordered fake 3M mask trademarks, packaging boxes and other items from the defendant Li and others. After packaging and putting the trademarks, they sold them through e-commerce platforms, WeChat Moments, etc., and made illegal profits of 2.9 million and more than 500,000 yuan pending transactions when they were detained.

The prosecution believes that the twelve defendants were respectively suspected of counterfeiting registered trademarks and selling illegally manufactured registered trademark symbols. In addition to the corresponding fixed-term imprisonment, they should be given heavy fines. At present, the trial of this case has been completed and the court will decide on their punishment in another date.

5

Linyi City also detained a fake mask shop's boss: 100,000 pairs of 3M anti-fog masks in his shop were found to be fake!

5

On the second day of the CNY, 3781 fake masks were found in Shanghai.

On the second day of the Chinese New Year, someone was selling masks at a high price near the Wanda Plaza in Wujiaochang. When the police arrived on the scene to arrest the seller, there was already a number of old people who had bought the masks. 

Upon investigation, the seller was found to be an unemployed person from Jiangsu who came to Shanghai and has long relied on the establishment of stalls to make a living. 

After the outbreak, he quickly purchased a batch of masks through the small commodity wholesale market, and planned to make a profit by selling at higher prices near Wujiaochangdao.

The law enforcement officers checked and counted a total of 3781 masks that they had seized from the seller, the masks were fake and shoddy products that could be easily determined by the naked eye. 

I've always thought that this is very rare until a friend on my Moments posted that he bought a fake one as the picture shows below.

How did he know that it is fake? Let us see now how to distinguish between genuine and fake.

The left one is genuine, the right one is fake. The Serial  number is laser printed with stripped font. The fake one as you can see on the right, is ink printed with Dotted font.

Genuine: Laser Printed, striped slanting fonts

Fake: Ink printed, dotted fonts

Video: How to differentiate check if it is fake?

Fake and Genuine together for comparison: left one is fake, right one is genuine.

LA and QS Certified (Not on the box)

If the mask is not produced in China and was imported to China legally, it must have the LA certification. While the masks produced in China legally, whether it is for local market or outside market, it must be QS and LA Certified.

Experts say that if the quality of masks is not high enough, they will carry viruses and bacteria, which may, instead of protecting your health, cause more harm to it. So don't just wear a mask, wear a genuine one. And if you find a fake one, report to 12315.