U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal agency recognized in the ‘2020 ‘ASTORS’ Awards for Excellence in Homeland Security‘, is preparing for a surge in anticipated fraud by criminal networks related to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) anticipates that high public demand for access to vaccines and treatments will lead to illegal attempts to introduce counterfeit versions of these items into U.S. and global marketplaces.

In response, HSI has launched Operation Stolen Promise 2.0, the next phase of strategic efforts to identify and prevent the production, sale and distribution of unapproved or unauthorized COVID-19 products and drugs, to address this emerging public health threat.

ICE HSI has been actively working with many of the leading pharmaceutical companies that are currently developing vaccines and treatments.

“We are committed to protecting the American public and global supply chain from fraud related to COVID vaccines and treatments,” explains Derek Benner, Executive Associate Director for HSI.

“We will continue to use our broad legal authorities and longstanding relationships with domestic and international law enforcement agencies and private sector partners to address this emerging public health threat, and will sustain our efforts to disrupt and dismantle criminal networks seeking to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“ICE HSI has been at the forefront of the government’s investigative response to COVID-19-related crime since the onset of the pandemic and will remain a leader in the fight to prevent vaccine fraud and to protect the health and safety of Americans.”

Based on current trends and through actionable intelligence, special agents anticipate that criminal organizations will continue to adapt and capitalize on public demand for access to vaccines and treatments as they are developed and approved.

With that, the agency expects a surge in illicit attempts to introduce counterfeit versions of approved vaccines into U.S. and global marketplaces.

In the midst of a relentless global pandemic, when there is less and less about our lives that is certain, the American people are counting on law enforcement to protect the vulnerable and ensure that every city and town is safe from individuals and organizations intent on inflicting even greater suffering.

This is why the men and women of HSI are focused on identifying and dismantling these schemes rapidly and effectively, allowing the public to focus on the health and safety of their loved ones.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST FRAUD INVOLVING COUNTERFEIT VACCINES AND TREATMENTS

• Always consult with a licensed medical professional to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine or treatment.

• Do not purchase COVID-19 vaccines and treatments over the Internet.

• Do not purchase COVID-19 vaccines and treatments through an online pharmacy.

• Ignore unsolicited offers for vaccinations and miracle treatments or cures.

• Don’t respond to texts, emails or robocalls about vaccines and treatments.

• Be wary of ads for vaccines and treatments on social media.

• Report any suspicious activity involving COVID-19 vaccines and treatments to COVID19FRAUD@dhs.gov.

As the pandemic persists, the public must continue to remain vigilant, and to do so, must know how to RECOGNIZE and REPORT potential COVID-19 Fraud.

HSI has initiated the S.T.O.P. COVID-19 Fraud campaign to provide facts, tips, and red flags on pandemic related crime and to guide the public on how to recognize potential fraud, protect themselves from it, and report it to authorities.

Despite widespread illness and death caused by COVID-19, many individuals and criminal networks are continuing to exploit the pandemic for illegal financial gains, using fraudulent schemes to source, produce, export or sell fake vaccines and related products, according to investigators.

To counter this emerging public safety threat, Operation Stolen Promise 2.0 will build upon Operation Stolen Promise, with the specific goal of countering the threat of counterfeit vaccines, treatments and supplies.

ICE HSI will do this by disrupting and dismantling fraud schemes, removing illicit websites and other online marketplaces and seizing counterfeit or illicit vaccines and treatments.

As part of this effort, the agency is also highlighting ways that the public can protect itself against fraud involving counterfeit vaccines and treatments.

ICE encourages the public to visit ice.gov for additional information.

“Many people, both in government and in industry, are working hard to ensure that the vaccines are properly developed, and once approved, properly and efficiently distributed through a secure supply chain,” said Steve Francis, director of ICE HSI’s Intellectual Property Rights Center.

“From production to distribution, these vaccines will require a great level of care and technology along the way in order to ensure they will be effective when they reach the patient.

“The public should not accept anything from an unapproved source, as an unapproved source can never guarantee that the vaccine is legitimate or that it has been properly stored and transported,” he said.

ICE launched Operation Stolen Promise in April 2020 to protect the Homeland from the increasing and evolving threat posed by COVID-19-related fraud and criminal activity.

As of November 25, 2020, the agency has seized more than $26 million in illicit proceeds; made 170 arrests; executed 148 search warrants and analyzed more than 69,000 COVID-19 domain names.

(ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officers undertake an Operation Stolen Promise raid in New York City against individuals involved in COVID-19 related fraud and criminal activity, confiscating items and making arrests which occurred April 30, 2020 to May 5, 2020. Courtesy of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and USA Patriotism!. Posted on July 22, 2020.)

Working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 1,600 shipments of mislabelled, fraudulent, unauthorized or prohibited COVID-19 test kits and other related items have been seized.

To report suspected illicit criminal activity or fraudulent schemes related to the COVID-19 pandemic, email Covid19Fraud@dhs.gov.

ICE Recognized in 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program

American Security Today’s ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards program is in its Fifth Year and continues to recognize the Outstanding Innovations of top firms and agencies in the Homeland Security and Public Safety fields.

2020 has been a very challenging year for everyone due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the much heralded AST ‘ASTORS’ Awards Winners Presentations and exclusive Luncheon at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC has been canceled and rescheduled for 2021 due to the virus.

Mike Madsen, Publisher, American Security Today

However, the 2020 ‘ASTORS’  Homeland Security Awards Program was again a huge success and many new categories were added including a section for COVID-19 Detection and Innovation.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)

• ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) is charged with enforcing the nation’s immigration laws in a fair and effective manner.

• ERO identifies and apprehends removable aliens, detains these individuals when necessary and removes illegal aliens from the United States.

• ERO transports removable aliens from point to point, manages aliens in custody or in an alternative to detention program, provides access to legal resources and representatives of advocacy groups and removes individuals from the United States who have been ordered to be deported.

• ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of aliens who undermine the safety of our communities and the integrity of our immigration laws.

2020 ‘ASTORS’ Government Excellence Award Recipients Also Include:

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • DHS Blue Campaign

• The Blue Campaign is a national public awareness campaign, designed to educate the public, law enforcement and other industry partners to recognize the indicators of human trafficking, and how to appropriately respond to possible cases.

• Blue Campaign works closely with DHS Components to create general awareness training and materials for law enforcement and others to increase detection of human trafficking, and to identify victims.

• Located within the Office of Partnership and Engagement, the Blue Campaign leverages partnerships with the private sector, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), law enforcement and state/local authorities to maximize national public engagement on anti-human trafficking efforts.

• Blue Campaign’s educational awareness objectives consists of two foundational elements, prevention of human trafficking and protection of exploited persons.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • DHS S&T COVID-19 Response

• The COVID-19 pandemic is a global threat with life and death consequences, the enormity of which many of us have never seen before.

• It is also a scientific challenge in need of innovative solutions and S&T is using every tool at its disposal to join the fight; including harnessing the knowledge of it’s experts on technology deployments, international collaboration, scientific breakthroughs, and support for America’s frontline workers.

• S&T has focused its efforts on laboratory research and providing valuable resources to inform the broader response community and help keep front line responders safe.

• Highlights of S&T’s response efforts can be found in our Battling the Invisible Enemy report. 

Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

Best Federal Government Security Program

• • Federal Risk Management Process Training Program

• The Federal Risk Management Process Training Program (FedRMPTP), Newly available Online – is Interagency Security Committee certified for Facility Security Officials, Federal Security Supervisors and those involved with Federal facility acquisition, construction, and renovation projects.

• On October 19, 1995, six months after the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12977, creating the Interagency Security Committee (ISC) to address continuing government-wide security for federal facilities.

• Prior to 1995, minimum physical security standards for non-military federally owned or leased facilities.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)

• The IC3 serves as the FBI’s central hub to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding occurrences of Internet crime

• IC3 provides the public with a reliable and convenient reporting mechanism to submit reports of suspected Internet-facilitated criminal activity and to develop alliances with law enforcement and industry partners.

(Actress Kirsten Vangsness, who plays tech-savvy FBI analyst Penelope Garcia on the show Criminal Minds, is promoteing the awareness of Internet crimes and scams and encourages the public to report suspected criminal cyber activity to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Courtesy of the FBI and YouTube.)

• Information is analyzed and disseminated for investigative and intelligence purposes to law enforcement and for public awareness.

• Since 2000, the IC3 has received complaints crossing the spectrum of cyber crime matters, to include online fraud in its many forms including intellectual property rights (IPR) matters, computer intrusions (hacking), economic espionage (theft of trade secrets), online extortion, international money laundering, identity theft, and a growing list of Internet facilitated crimes.

• It has become increasingly evident that, regardless of the label placed on a cyber crime matter, the potential for it to overlap with another referred matter is substantial.

• IC3 develops leads and notifies law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, local and international level.

Federal Protective Service in Collaboration with the Argonne National Laboratory

Best Risk, Crisis Management Solution

• • Modified Infrastructure Survey Tool (MIST) – COVID-19 Telematics Capabilities

• DHS’s Federal Protective Service (FPS) provides integrated security and law enforcement services–including conducting security assessments and detecting and mitigating threats–to over 9,500 federal facilities. To accomplish this mission, FPS leverages the Modified Infrastructure Survey Tool (MIST), a joint solution developed in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory.

• Argonne and FPS have continuously sought ways to improve the tool’s ability to assess, detect, and mitigating threats, and this year, no threat was more pervasive in this country than COVID-19.

• To confront the threat that COVID-19 posed to the FPS workforce, MIST was enhanced to allow FPS Headquarters and FPS Management to track and display each federal building affected by COVID-19, and to analyze local hospitals and EMS facilities in relation to federal buildings and office locations.

• Additionally, the map capability within MIST was expanded to allow for many additional layers, allowed FPS a granular understanding of the number of facilities impacted by the virus, and much more. 

• Ultimately, the new COVID-19 telematics capabilities offered FPS decision makers the ability to make better informed decisions on moving personnel and security equipment to best protect people and property, while ensuring safety of their staff. 

John Verrico

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • Chief of Media and Community Relations, DHS Science & Technology Directorate

• John Verrico, who is also the former President of the National Association of Government Communicators, has nearly 40 years of experience as a public affairs professional in federal and state government agencies, working extensively in media, community and employee relations, with significant emphasis in science, engineering and the security fields.

• A retired Navy Master Chief Journalist, John also worked as a freelance journalist, and stand-up comic, among other fields where he learned not to take life too seriously and to experience everything life has to offer.

• As an under-sized youth and victim of bullies, John found hope in classic monster movies & ‘B’ flicks where he learned that the little guy could win. Drawing from these lessons, John is an infotainer who helps empower villagers to keep their torches lit and face their monsters.

Kathleen Kiernan, Ed. D

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • Kiernan Group Holdings CEO

• Dr. Kathleen Kiernan is the Founder and CEO of national security, education, risk management and compliance firm Kiernan Group Holdings, Chair Emeritus of InfraGard National Members Alliance, and adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University and Naval Post Graduate School.

• Preparedness without Paranoia® the experience-based training in awareness, preparedness, response and recovery training for active assailant and workplace violence prevention is delivered on a learning management system.

• GOT Preparedness® (Got Online Training), was built specifically for dispersed and remote workforces and we have trained thousands of individuals domestically and internationally. 

• She has delivered operational and educational capabilities across the globe and developed a methodological based approach to the resiliency cycle at an individual and organizational level.

Joseph Pangaro

Excellence in Public Safety

• • CEO at True Security Design

• As the owner and CEO of Pangaro Training and Management, Joseph Pangaro, concentrates on providing the best and most up to date training programs for the Law Enforcement, School and Business communities.

• True Security Design (TSD) law enforcement training programs are centered around supporting today’s modern professionals’ by teaching them vital skills through courses designed to engage and empower its participants.

• A 27-year veteran police lieutenant and experienced school security director, Lt. Pangaro is uniquely qualified to provide law enforcement training programs that are centered around supporting today’s modern professionals’ by teaching them vital skills through courses designed to engage and empower its participants.

• Pangaro Training also teaches in police academies and police agencies throughout New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

New Jersey City University

Excellence in Public

• • NJCU Cyber Defense, National security and intelligence Programs

• NJCU is one of the few programs nationally in higher education designated an Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) per the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and a Cyber Defense CAE per the National Security Agency.

• The Department of Professional Security Studies focuses on a student–centered, scholar-practitioner approach to education.

• It’s mission is to facilitate access, create opportunities and provide a supportive environment for achieving academic success through learning and appreciation of subject matter, professional and personal growth and the development of identified and marketable global and disciplinary competencies.

• The New Jersey City University (NJCU) Cybersecurity program is an interdisciplinary center for cybersecurity education, training and research, which aims to provide current and future professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to strive and compete within the cyber security community outreach.

• NJCU students’ foundation is built through their degree program, certificates and research opportunities.

New York City Emergency Management

Excellence in Homeland Security

• • New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM), under the guidance of Commissioner commissioner of NYCEM is Deanne Criswell, a former FEMA official and head of OEM for the city of Aurora, CO, is responsible for oversight and development of the city’s emergency management plans.

  • NYCEM regularly tests plans by conducting drills and exercises, and responds to emergencies to ensure that other agencies not only follow these plans, but to foster communication amongst the responding agencies.

• • NYCEM also operates the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) where city, state and federal agencies join representatives from the private and nonprofit sectors to coordinate complex responses to emergencies and disasters.

  • The agency also developed and runs the Notify NYC emergency alert program, by which citizens can sign up to receive phone and email alerts about emergencies and events happening in their neighborhoods.

  • NYCEM is also the administrator of New York City’s community emergency response teams. Each community emergency response team (CERT) is coterminous with one or more New York community boards.

  • The agency also maintains the Citywide Incident Management System which is based on the National Incident Management System.

U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary

Excellence in Public Safety

• • Boating Safety Courses and Volunteer Initiatives

• U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary (CGAUX) boating courses provide instruction to boaters at all levels, from the fundamental to the advanced.

• The agency’s courses (virtual and classroom) are taught by experienced and knowledgeable CGAUX instructors committed to the highest standards of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.

• They are offered in two modalities: virtual, video conference with CGAUX Virtual PE Instructors, and classroom setting with CGAUX PE Instructors.

• For a complete list of 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Award Winners, click here.

Learn More…

HSI Launches Operation Stolen Promise to Combat COVID-19 Fraud