Hardly a surprise that the Corona virus has provided an opportunity for unscrupulous fakes. On April 2nd, the Michigan Attorney General notified two business registered in Nevada and operating in Beverly Hills, CA to stop selling fake at-home COVID-19 kits.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has seized two shipments to date. The first on March 20th, CBP officers at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) examined a parcel identified as ‘Purified Water Vials’ with a declared value of $196.81. It contained vials filled with a white liquid labeled ‘Corona Virus 2019’ and ‘Virus 1 Test Kit’. There were enough vials for over a hundred test kits. The next day, CBP officers at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport seized counterfeit test kits for COVID-19 and other illness, including meningitis, that came from the United Kingdom
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to the public that the Covid-19 test kits are not available to the public but only to authorized medical staff. The Chinese government has had a problem with counterfeiters selling COVID-19 test kits and has taken quick action to stem the problem.