The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers of fake at-home COVID-19 testing kits. 

According to the FDA, fake and unauthorized at-home testing kits are popping up online as scammers take advantage of the spike in demand.

If you’re shopping online for test kits, below are tips from the Federal Trade Commission to avoid getting a fake product:

Check the FDA’s lists of antigen diagnostic tests and molecular diagnostic tests before you buy to find the tests authorized for home use. 

Check out a seller before you buy, especially if you’re buying from a site you don’t know. Search online for the website, company, or seller’s name plus words like “scam,” “complaint,” or “review.”

You can get a good idea about a company, product, or service from reading user reviews on various retail or shopping comparison sites. Think about the source of the review. The FTC recommends that consumers ask themselves: Where is this review coming from? Is it from an expert organization or individual customers?

If you’re charged for an order you never got, or for a product that's not as advertised, contact your credit card company and dispute the charge. Here are more tips from the FTC on how to dispute a credit card charge.

The federal government will not call you to offer you a free testing kit. If you receive a call about free at-home COVID-19 testing, hang up. Don’t press any numbers. The recording might say that pressing a number will let you speak to a live operator or remove you from their call list, but instead it might lead to more robocalls.

Learn more about COVID-related frauds and how to avoid them HERE.