Made in China is treason to America. It also backfires. As Illinois found out.

Counterfeit KN95 masks were apparently sold to the state of Illinois from China.

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has issued a “Siren” warning urging any agency that may have received them to discontinue their use. IDPH says the KN95 masks may not meet performance standards; counterfeit KN95 masks are reportedly flooding the marketplace; and Illinois distributed the KN95 masks throughout the state.

IDPH says it is aware of at least two vendors offering for sale counterfeit versions of such respirators. 

The State of Missouri has a similar problem. Missouri has recalled 48,000 of the masks that were distributed to first responders including police and fire departments.

Missouri is trying to get a refund. And discovering it’s challenging to get refunds from foreign scammers.

Missouri is sending back millions of facemasks to China. The state plans to sue to get all of its money back – up to $8.25 million.

Missouri and Illinois sent alerts, showing picture examples of masks that don’t meet standards, according to recent testing by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. They are KN95 masks that came from three factories in China.

Shoddy masks from China? Shocking.

Vendor 3 sold 3.9 million KN95 masks for $16.5 million (with another advance payment of half). In this case the state received almost 101,000 of those masks and the vendor has declined to refund the $8.25 million advance payment.

Karsten declined to name the vendors. She cited possible litigation as a reason for limiting some information.

“We will do everything in our power to recoup the money that was required to obtain these masks and we will continue to do everything in our power to obtain PPE of quality,” she said

And good luck with that if you’re shopping in the People’s Republic of Scams.