Middle-aged adult man wearing an N95 mask

3M recently worked with the United States Marshals Service to seize more than one million counterfeit respirators.

The seizure came after the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky granted 3M a temporary restraining order stopping the defendant Old World Timber, LLC from selling counterfeit products.

"3M will continue to take action against those who sell fake products and put lives at risk during the pandemic, and we appreciate the prompt action by the U.S. Marshals Service and the court to help protect unsuspecting customers," said Kevin Rhodes, 3M senior vice president and deputy general counsel, in a press release. "We will continue to offer our resources to check suspicious offers and get counterfeit products off the market."

The case originated when potential customers contacted 3M's fraud hotlines to check the authenticity of sales documents from Old World Timber. 3M investigated and determined the documents and products were fake.

Since the pandemic began, 3M has seized more than 41 million counterfeit N95 respirators in collaboration with law enforcement and customs agencies around the world. The company has established hotlines around the world to report suspected fraud and has created online resources to help spot price-gouging, identify authentic 3M respirators and ensure products are from 3M authorized distributors.

3M has investigated more than 14,000 fraud reports to its hotlines globally, and has filed 36 lawsuits to stop those attempting to profiteer from the pandemic demand for critical supplies. Online, 3M has removed more than 20,000 false or deceptive social media posts, over 21,000 fraudulent e-commerce offers and at least 315 deceptive domain names have been taken down.

3M is donating all of the monetary damages and settlement payments it receives in these cases to COVID-19 related charities.

The resources 3M have created to give the public the facts about authentic PPE and to help it avoid counterfeit scams can be found at www.3m.com/covidfraud.