Illegal profits estimated at NT$34 million

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/15
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The owner of Carry Mask was indicted Tuesday (Dec. 15) for making NT$34 million (US$1.21 million) by passing off face masks from China as made in Taiwan.

Lin Ming-chin’s (林明進) company was part of the “National Face Mask Team” of private sector manufacturers requisitioned by the government earlier this year to produce masks and mask-making machines in the face of the expanding coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In addition to selling 3.95 million masks from China unsuitable for medical use, Lin is still under investigation for distributing unauthorized children’s masks, CNA reported.

The scam came to light in September when a pharmacist in New Taipei City looked inside a box of masks sent in by mail and found a user’s manual in the simplified Chinese characters used in China but not in Taiwan. She alerted the health authorities, which began an investigation through the Shilin Prosecutors Office.    [FULL  STORY]