Criminals cash in on rush to buy coronavirus protective gear, U.N. says

FILE PHOTO: A worker piles up a shipment containing supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) at Bari airport after arriving from Guangzhou, China, to help the southern Italian region of Puglia combat a spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Bari, Italy, April 7, 2020. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

VIENNA (Reuters) - A rush by countries to buy personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic has created an opportunity for criminal groups, which are peddling sub-standard equipment and likely to move on to medicines soon, a U.N. report said on Wednesday.

Criminals have adapted quickly, also running scams where no equipment is supplied at all, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in the report.