(MENAFN - Caribbean News Global)
BALTIMORE, USA â A federal criminal complaint has been filed charging three men on the federal charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to allegedly sell purported COVID-19 vaccines. The criminal complaint was filed on February 9, 2021, and was unsealed today upon the defendants arrests. Charged in the criminal complaint are: Olakitan Oluwalade ( Olaki ), age 22, of Windsor Mill, Maryland; Olaki s cousin, Odunayo Baba Oluwalade ( Baba ), age 25, of Windsor Mill; and Kelly Lamont Williams, age 22, of Owings Mills, Maryland.
The criminal complaint was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Special Agent in Charge Mark S. McCormack of the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Criminal Investigations Metro Washington Field Office; Postal Inspector in Charge Peter
Warning: COVID-19 Vaccine Scams Are Clever and Tenacious
How to spot them and how to report them
By
The caller ID said Advanced Medical Group. Even though the Tennessee woman who got the call wasn t a patient of that group, she answered. The caller said she was eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, but needed a COVID-19 test first. That s when the trouble began.
Occupational health nurse Maureen Finnegan places a band-aid on immunologist and allergist Dr. Michael Welch, after administering him with a dose of the Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at Rady Children s Hospital in San Diego, California, U.S., December 22, 2020. |
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In May 2020, an AP News investigation discovered a massive shipment of counterfeit N95 masks had infiltrated the American medical system. All signs pointed to the masks being legitimate: They came complete with the proper shipping labels and invoices, certified letters from buyers and distributors, and interviews that traced back to a factory in China that is, in fact, a manufacturer of N95 masks certified by the Centers for Disease Control.
There was only one indication that the masks were fake: The earloops. Legitimate N95s are designed with full head-straps that are stitched, stapled or soldered directly to the respirator to provide the proper seal and force inhaled and exhaled air through the filter. The cheaper earloops, which are glued to the mask and create a more unstable seal, made the masks significantly less effective. In many cases, frontline healthcare workers were forced to simply make do.