This browser does not support the Video element.
Michigan AG warns of fraudulent Covid test kits amid current high demand, as state cases soar
As Covid drags on, so too, do the attempts scammers are using to try to make money off unsuspecting victims, Dana Nessel warns.
FOX 2 - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has issued a warning about those at-home test kits.
"Just like Covid never seems to end, Covid scams never seem to end, either," she said. "If it's not on the FDA website - don't buy it and certainly don't use it," she said.
Nessel says some of those at-home Covid tests are not legitimate - the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau is warning that some scammers selling them online-only, want your money or your personal information.
Even the attorney general encountered a suspect test.
"I got sick, I was worried it was Covid," Nessel said. "I wanted to find out as quickly as possible, as everyone does, with an at-home antigen test."
She didn't have a test - a friend had an extra one, but Nessel quickly realized that something about it - wasn't right.
"Why do you need my social security? The box came without instructions so that you wouldn't know how to use the test," she said. "Then you're supposed to log on and provide all kinds of details about yourself."
Nessel does not have Covid for the record, just a cold. But her office is warning consumers to make sure the test they're using is FDA approved. Their list of approved products is on their website.
They're also asking people to check the Department of Health and Human Services website HERE for free testing locations to avoid unsuspected costs or scams.
"What we're worried about, is that people will just see someplace close to them and go there for a free test and wind up with some enormous charge," she said.
Another concern? Unconfirmed reports of price-gouging for home testing kits in some stores.
"Nobody should be paying $80 for an at-home Covid test kit - that's outrageous," Nessel said.
But with over-the-counter tests in short supply, and so many people needing to know their Covid status, opportunities for fraud just continue to grow.
"This has been a gold mine for scammers for the last two years to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers," Nessel said.
Go to Michigan.gov/ag to learn more or file a complaint.