Ever since the coronavirus pandemic began, the U.S. has been struggling with a shortage of masks, and other personal protective equipment for medical personnel and others. In some cases, doctors and nurses have resorted to reusing the masks.

The demand for the masks, which has seen politicians from different jurisdictions fighting over finite supplies, has also led to another ugly side effect: Large-scale scams from people promising delivery of such equipment. There have already been reports of at least two major ones, which have not only attempted to carry out massive fraud, but have also given institutions false hope of alleviating their need for life-saving equipment.

On Friday, the Department of Justice announced that it had indicted a 39-year-old Georgia man who they say attempted to "sell millions of nonexistent respirator masks to the Department of Veterans Affairs in exchange for large upfront payments."

Christopher Parris has been charged by the federal government with wire fraud after, according to the criminal complaint, he claimed to have offered 125 million face masks and other equipment, which carried a price tag of $750 million.

The maximum penalty, according to DOJ, is 20 years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

In another scam involving millions of masks, a labor union in California attempted to obtain a stockpile of 39 million masks- which turned out to have never existed.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West worked with an unnamed Pennsylvania businessman to arrange for the acquisition of the masks.

The promise of those masks was widely covered in the media, and health systems even arranged to buy masks from that supply. But it turned out the deal had been arranged through an Australian broker and a supplier based in Kuwait, and the masks failed to materialize.

The federal government, the report said, had uncovered the scam while in the process of figuring out whether they could obtain the masks under the Defense Production Act.

No charges have been filed in the latter case; authorities have said neither the businessman or union is a subject of the investigation.

There have numerous other cases of smaller-scale scams seeking to take advantage of those worried about coronavirus. CoinDesk reported that scammers promising coronavirus supplies, including masks and hand sanitizer, had scammed a total of over $2 million worth of cryptocurrency from coronavirus preppers, as of mid-March.

And a report by the South China Morning Post over the weekend found that scams involving coronavirus had cost people in Hong Kong over $6 million, including over $2 million in "surgical mask fraud" of one Hong Kong clinic.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons.