#Middlebury #Veterans #Fraud #Scammers
VETERANS POST
By Freddy Groves
The Covid pandemic has been a pot of gold for thieves and scammers who want to exploit the critical needs of hospitals and doctors. As usual, however, the criminals aren’t too bright.
There was the medical supply company that conspired to sell masks that were misbranded, trying to pass them off to hospitals as genuine National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-approved N95 masks. The thieves gathered up their fake masks from miscellaneous sources and shipped them off at inflated prices. When NIOSH tested the masks, the scam was discovered because the masks couldn’t pass the filtration tests.
A whole alphabet of federal agencies, including the VA’s Office of Inspector General, came together in this effort to investigate and prosecute the thieves. Between the price gouging, the fake masks and the interstate commerce, the authorities had a good case for pandemic-related defrauding and conspiracy.
When the case goes to court, selling misbranded medical equipment alone could net the thieves a fine of a half a million dollars. Adding in the interstate commerce and price gouging could tack on additional fines and years in prison.
Then there was the guy who tried to sell millions of dollars of personal protective equipment to the VA. The scam was pretending the company was an authorized distributor of the PPE. They even generated a fake website and email address. The goods that were sent out were non-conforming and the masks were counterfeit.
Another guy stole gloves and PPE and sold them for a cool million dollars. Still another scammer stole the relief funds he received, diverting $180,000 of it for his own use.
In one scam, however, it almost wasn’t worth the thief’s time: A woman was given two paycheck protection loans for two businesses she owned – except the didn’t own a business. All she got out of the scam was $41,000.
When are they going to learn? The thieves eventually get caught, and we have the VA OIG and other alphabet agencies to thank for it.
© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.
