COVID appears to be a disease that is always going to be with us at some level, much like the flu.  In response to the COVID threat the federal government is now again offering up to four free COVID testing kits per household.  All you need to do is to go to the site COVIDTests.gov where you can learn about the program which will then direct you to a second site special.usps.com/testkits. where you can order the free kits.  The COVID test kits are totally free.  The federal government even pays for the shipping costs.  The only information you need to provide is your name and shipping address.  If you wish to get confirmation and delivery updates from the U.S. Postal Service, you will need to provide your email address, but you definitely do not need to provide any other personal information such as your Social Security number to get the free COVID testing kits.

Unfortunately, as always, scammers are taking advantage of the situation and sending emails and text messages posing as the federal government offering “free” COVID test kits or even charging for the kits.  The scammers may ask for bank account information, credit card information or your Social Security number indicating that you need to provide this information in order to be eligible to receive the COVID test kits. This is totally false.  As indicated above, the only information you must provide is your name and shipping address.

TIPS

Whenever you get a text message or an email you can never be sure who is actually contacting you regardless of whether the phone number sending the text and the email address of the someone sending an email appears to be legitimate.  Therefore you should never provide personal information, click on a link or make a payment in response to a text message or email unless you have absolutely confirmed that the communication was legitimate.  In this case, no payment or such personal information is required to get your free COVID test kits.

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