That didn't take long.
Less than 24 hours after the United States Postal Service launched an official website for Americans to request free rapid coronaviruses tests, websites with suspiciously similar URLs are trying to lure people into purchasing pricey tests. The scam artists are here.
The official government website for ordering free rapid tests is https://www.covidtests.gov/, but a link on that page takes visitors to a different website. The sites like covidtestsgov.com are not official government sites and are instead links to expensive rapid tests for sale.
Don't go here. Credit: covidtestsgov.com
We mean expensive. If you click on the "At Home COVID Test Kits" option, you will be taken to a site where rapid tests are listed for $39.97 per two pack. The USPS will mail up to four tests for free.
Is it free, or $299.97? Medident Supplies is a credit.
The Federal Trade Commission warned last week of fake in-person coronaviruses testing sites. The issue of fake testing locations is very much on the government's radar.
Covidtestsgov.com was registered in January of 2022. The strikingly similar URL is likely to be the same. It suggests that the White House might try to get a resemblance to a URL ahead of the announcement of the official free COVID test webpage.
There are other COVID testing websites with eyebrow-raising URL.
It's possible that Tweet has been deleted.
We contacted the USPS and asked if it had any comment on the URLs. We tried to get in touch with the White House press office to find out why the administration's plan didn't involve locking down similar URLs ahead of the website's launch.
The White House should not have been surprised that someone might register official looking URLs in a bid to fleece Americans during a time of crisis. It's a sad tradition dating back to the days of Hurricane Katrina.
If our elected officials haven't learned anything in the intervening 16 years, we should.
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