U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Area Port of Seattle seized 52,800 counterfeit COVID-19 test kits found in a large e-commerce shipment.
The seizure was announced in a release Thursday, May 26, adding, "These kits threaten the health and safety of American consumers by potentially providing a false sense of security from an erroneous negative result, needlessly exposing members of the public to infection from COVID-19."
The unregulated test kits were shipped among thousands of other packages, according to the release, but CBP officers and agricultural specialists were able to locate it.
Once the fake tests had been located, the CBP and U.S. Food and Drug Administration determined kits could not hit the open market, according to the release.
"Criminals and other bad actors continue to feed into the anxiety brought about by the pandemic by attempting to enter these sub-standard counterfeit COVID-19 test kits into the American economy. ... By keeping these dangerous kits off store shelves, CBP can assure American citizens that the COVID-19 test kits they are purchasing, and the test results they display, are of the highest quality and accuracy," the release states.
