The San Diego District Attorney’s office warns the public of unapproved at-home COVID-19 tests amid rapid surges that swept through the county during the holiday season.
The warning comes as “people become increasingly desperate to get tested,” the DA’s office said.
“Scammers are always waiting for their next opportunity to take financial advantage of unsuspecting consumers, and the shortage of COVID-19 tests is no different,” The DA’s office wrote in a statement.
However, these kinds of scams have been seen during the pandemic in the county and across the nation. Earlier this month, county health officials warned the public of fake pop-up COVID-19 testing sites offering free testing.
The U.S. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General updated its alert on illegal COVID-19 activity. Pandemic-related fraud schemes can include unauthorized at-home COVID-19 test kits in exchange for your personal, medical, or financial information, surveys, and test kits sold door-to-door.
According to the DA’s office, price gouging laws will be in effect until the end of April since Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order declares a state of emergency through March 31. The order prohibits sellers from increasing prices on test kits by more than 50 percent of the purchased price for anyone who began selling tests after December 1, 2021.
“We will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to protect our community against fraudulent COVID schemes, fraud, and price gouging,” DA Stephan said.
A new law that the San Diego District Attorney’s Office co-sponsored expands the price gouging laws to online purchases.
“Before you click the add-to-cart button on that website claiming to sell legitimate self-testing kits, know how to spot red flags, so you don’t become a different kind of COVID-19 statistic,” DA Stephan said.
Earlier this week, the federal government rolled out a program that allows every residential household in the United States to order up to four at-home COVID-19 test kits free of charge. Tests can be ordered online at COVIDtests.gov. Those ordering the test kits need only provide a name and address. No identification, credit card, or health insurance information is required.
The rise of COVID-19 fraud schemes comes with the scarcity of testing supplies, and the exponential rise in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. On Thursday, the County Health and Human Services Agency reported 14,025 new COVID-19 cases and six deaths in its latest data.
Thursday's data increased the county's cumulative totals to 627,828 cases and 4,559 deaths.
The number of COVID-positive patients in San Diego County hospitals decreased by 15 people to 1,288 on Friday, according to the latest state data. Of the hospitalized patients, 205 were in intensive care, down nine from the previous day.
To report an incident of price gouging or a fake or suspicious testing site, you can call the San Diego District Attorney consumer hotline at (619) 531-3507 or by email at consumer@sdcda.org.
Fraud related to COVID-19 can be reported to the Health and Office of Inspector General by calling 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477) or online at https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/report-fraud/ https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/report-fraud/
To check if a lab is licensed in California, visit https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OSPHLD/LFS/Pages/FacilitiesVerification.aspx.
