MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Internet scammers are taking advantage of the baby formula shortage and conning parents who are desperate to feed their children.
A shortage of baby formula started early in the COVID-19 pandemic but has worsened in recent weeks. This is mainly because Abbott Nutrition recalled several major brands of powdered formula and shut down its Sturgis, Michigan, factory when federal officials began investigating four babies who suffered bacterial infections after consuming formula from the facility.
Abbott is one of only a handful of companies that produce the vast majority of the U.S. formula supply, so their recall wiped out a large segment of the market.
According to the Better Business Bureau, scammers are getting creative by hiding under fake social media pages and claiming they’ll ship the formula to the victims’ homes. What actually arrives are recalled cans, empty cans, or nothing at all.
Cyrena Bell is one of the dozens of moms who were scammed while looking for baby formula. She found a social media post stating they had extra milk cans and would sell the 10 cans for about $130.
"That was way less of what it should have been," Bell said. "That price tag should have been 200 something dollars for those milk cans. At first, I was like, 'Woah ok,' because she said she was a mom, and she understood."
But days went by and she never got the formula or heard back from the seller.
"We have a newborn baby. $130 or $2, we don’t have the money to lose,” Bell said.
Here are some ways the BBB and the FTC recommend avoiding a baby formula scam:
- Use a search engine to check out the company or product. Use search terms like “review,” “complaint” or “scam.”
- Only scammers will demand payment by gift card, money transfer or cryptocurrency. Paying with a credit card often provides the most protection; you can sometimes get your money back if you ordered something that never arrived.
- Know your rights. Sellers are supposed to ship an online order within the time stated in their advertisements (or within 30 days if the ads don’t give a time). If a seller can’t ship by then, it must give you a revised shipping date, with the chance to cancel for a full refund or accept the new shipping date.
- Search for local resources. For example, your pediatrician may have a formula in stock and might be able to help. Participants in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition assistance program can contact their local office to find the formula.
If you are a victim of a scam, report it to the BBB here.