TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – As people go online to order their free COVID test kits, the Better Business Bureau is warning people to be aware of test kit scams out there.
Dick Eppstein from the Better Business Bureau says the pandemic is a perfect breeding ground for scams that feed off of people’s fears. He points to the scams that surfaced surrounding fake masks and hand sanitizers earlier in the pandemic.
There are two major types of scams circulating surrounding COVID test kits. The first are websites that pretend to be selling the kits but they’re just trying to steal and sell your personnel information.
“People go on the website, they put in their name, their address, their social security number, their bank account numbers, their credit card numbers, and there are no kits,” Eppstein said. “The complete thing is a fake.”
The second scam involves selling fake kits.
“They are kits that are knock-offs made who-knows-where and they will sell these to you for $30-40,” Eppstein said. “When you receive them, they’re not approved. They’re no good, they’re junk and people throw them away. They’re useless.”
If you want to know if the test kit is legitimate, look at the front of the test kit box. It will say, “For use under an Emergency Use Authorization only.”
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