More Customers Are Complaining About Fake Goods Sold Online, Including Surgical Masks & COVID-19 Vaccines

Contrary to what some online retailers will tell you, there are only three places where you can get COVID-19 vaccines:

1. At government-approved vaccination centres
2. At government-approved vaccination centres
3. At government-approved vaccination centres

Okay fine, so there’s only one real option.

So if you happen to see a COVID-19 vaccine listed in an online store, treat it with the same sort of revulsion you’d feel if you come across a 5-day old McSpicy on Carousell.

Especially since they seem to be all over the internet these days.

More Customers Are Complaining About Fake Goods Sold Online, Including Surgical Masks & COVID-19 Vaccines

More and more customers are complaining about fake goods being sold online, according to the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE).

CASE received 33 complaints last year, up from 12 in 2019 and seven the year before.

Crime syndicates and scammers have taken advantage of lockdowns as more people have been staying at home and been forced to make their purchases online.

The most common types of products reported in these complaints are watches, clothing, electrical and electronics goods, and surgical masks.

Oh, but that’s not the worst of it.

Cyber Intelligence House, a Singapore-based cyber intelligence agency, alerted The Straits Times in March to different brands of COVID-19 vaccines being sold on Telegram and the dark web.

One vendor who claimed to be from the Wuhan Institute of Virology was peddling an unknown COVID-19 vaccine for 0.0017 Bitcoin (around $122 a dose).

When Pfizer conducted an investigation into these fake online vaccines, they found that counterfeit medicines online, including their own vaccine, that were made with wallboard and even pesticide.

Other fake vaccines have been found to contain chalk.

After 170 raids of counterfeit manufacturing sites around the world, over 280 people have been arrested, Pfizer said.

In March, hundreds of fake COVID-19 vaccines were seized in South Africa, Interpol said.

Respirator and mask producer 3M also investigated more than 13,800 fraud reports and filed 33 lawsuits in the United States and in Canada as of 19 April.

They said that counterfeit respirators are made using unknown processes and materials and thus cannot be trusted to provide protection.

Experts Can’t Tell the Difference

Just like that “Rolex” watch you purchased for $100 which later turned out to be a “Relax” watch on closer inspection, customers may find it difficult to distinguish genuine products from fake ones.

Even experts have a hard time with this.

As Dr Aaron Poh, medical director and general surgeon at Alpine Surgical Practice told The Straits Times: 

“As a medical practitioner myself, I am not confident I am able to ascertain the authenticity of such products from visual inspection. I do not expect the general public to be able to distinguish between legitimate and counterfeit medical products.”

How to Avoid Becoming a Victim

The first thing you should do to avoid falling prey to these scams, is to never purchase a COVID-19 vaccine online.

Unlike a Hello Kitty phone cover and Louis Vuitton bag, a COVID-19 vaccine could actually hurt or even kill you if its fake.

You should also avoid buying products from dubious or unfamiliar sources. And even if the online store is reputable, check customer reviews of a product to ensure you’re getting the real deal.

Lastly, shop only on platforms which offer pre-payment protection.

If you want to lodge a complain against an online retailer, you can approach CASE for assistance on its hotline at 6100-0315.

Feature Image: Oier Aso / Shutterstock.com