Homeland Security Investigations Office has Opened Hundreds of Cases of COVID-19 Related Fraud

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office has opened more than 370 cases of alleged fraud in which scammers tried to sell counterfeit COVID-19 test kits, treatments, masks, and cleaning products. Since the US entered lockdown around two months ago, the HSI has cracked down on individuals and organizations it suspects of fraud and has investigated nearly 25,000 website domains, the Washington Examiner reports.

In one of the coronavirus fraud cases a man going by the name of Christopher A. Parris presented himself as a distributor of surgical masks during the “first desperate weeks of the outbreak,” Time reported. Within a short period of time, Parris was making millions of dollars on orders for masks that did not exist.

In regard to this kind of fraudulence, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Matthew Albence told Time: “It’s incredibly rampant and it’s growing by the day. We’re just scratching the surface of this criminal activity.”

According to the Washington Examiner, as of Tuesday evening, the DHS had reported 14 arrests, $3.4 million in illegal profits seized, and 532 coronavirus-related seizures.

In a statement on its website, the HSI explains: “Despite the danger and uncertainty this global pandemic has caused, individuals and organizations around the world are attempting to take advantage of it for illicit financial gain. These illegal efforts not only compromise legitimate trade and financial systems but threaten the integrity of the U.S. border and endanger the safety and security of the American public.”

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