Investigation reveals major eCommerce sites taking up to two weeks to remove harmful COVID-19 products

An investigation by tech research and review company Proxyway has revealed that eCommerce sites Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon, Craigslist and eBay are failing to quickly remove potentially harmful COVID-19 testing kits, medicines and herbal drugs.

Proxyway created a script to identify scores of suspect listings and then, with a team of medical experts, assessed which products were harmful. It then monitored how long the products were live on each site.

— AliExpress was the slowest to respond, with products available to buy for, on average, 5 days. The slowest response time recorded was two weeks
— Alibaba and Craigslist’s slowest response times was one week, eBay – just under four days
— Alibaba took an average of 2.5 days, Craigslist took 3.2 days, eBay 2 days to remove listings
— Amazon had the best response time, with an average removal time slightly under 2 days (40 hours), however, one listing was available to buy for nearly 3 days (65 hours)

Deceptive products found to be listed included fraudulent home COVID-19 virus testing kits, an animal testing kit marketed as safe for humans, four different types of medicine purporting to treat COVID-19 and CBD products advertised as ‘coronavirus treatments’.

The investigation also revealed how sellers are using a variety of tactics to avoid safeguards on these sites. For example, on eBay, some sellers are editing their product descriptions of products listed before the Pandemic to dupe sellers into thinking they are now treatments or cures. One listing created before the 7th December 2019 had revised the subheading to include ‘Coronavirus protection’ apparently revealing that eBay is not actively monitoring historic listings.

Dr Balu Pitchiah MBBS, MRCPsych, Director of the Harley Street Health Clinic, who was consulted on the investigation, said;

“It is deeply concerning that these products are so widely available for people to buy. Counterfeit tests that claim to diagnose COVID-19 and drugs that potentially treat the infection can pose severe health risks to people who buy them. These products could prevent or delay infected people from seeking medical treatment or cause unwanted complications. They may also discourage people who don’t have obvious symptoms from following the advice of social distancing and self-isolation – helping to spread COVID-19 further.

“The primary diagnostic method for COVID-19 is RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction), which is performed by healthcare professionals that take a nasopharyngeal swab and send it to an authorised laboratory. No home test kits have been approved by the regulatory authorities yet. There is no approved effective vaccine, supplement, or specific antiviral medication that could treat or prevent COVID-19 infection.”