Scammers promising to deliver 10 million face masks to German health authorities have been caught by European police in the latest bid to exploit surging demand for critical medical equipment during the coronavirus pandemic.

Sales contractors working for German authorities agreed to pay €1.5mil to a Dutch supplier for an initial delivery of one million masks, Europol, the European police coordination agency, said in a statement April 14. When the contractors were told their upfront payment hadn’t been received, they agreed to send a further €880,000 payment to ensure the delivery of masks.

Police and prosecutors around Europe are cracking down on the illicit sale of masks as authorities struggle to find sufficient masks from overseas manufacturers. The problem has become more acute as countries such as Singapore make wearing masks outdoors mandatory.

The Dutch supplier in the Europol case was legitimate, but its website had been cloned by the scammers and any evidence of the two payments had vanished, the agency said. Working with Dutch and Irish police and the British bank where the funds had been sent, Europol tracked down the €880,000, including €500,000 that had already been sent to Britain and was destined for an account in Nigeria.

Two people have been arrested in the case in the Netherlands and the investigation is continuing.

Similar stories are playing out all over Europe as police and prosecutors focus on coronavirus-related scams.

In Britain last week, one man was arrested for stealing masks from an ambulance station to sell online while another was sentenced to three-months in jail for taking them from a hospital.In Switzerland, Zurich police last month set up a sting operation to arrest a woman trying to sell masks at a 1,900% markup.

 - Bloomberg