LONGVIEW, Texas — Days into the free federal COVID-19 test portal accepting submissions, East Texans are warning their neighbors of potential fraud.
Ashley Morris lives in Longview. She wanted to help a friend in need by ordering the federal government’s free COVID-19 tests to her house but quickly found out she couldn’t.
"They're like, 'No, nope, your address has already been used,'” she said.
She tried again, and another time thinking surely she mistyped something.
“I was like, 'I know my address.' And it's me and my kids that live here. So nobody else lives here. So honestly, I was kind of like mad just because I'm like, you know, people could really need these tests,” Morris said.
Morris says she thinks someone’s planning to use the email address they entered to track when the tests get to her house and then steal them before she can get to them.
We reached out to the United States Postal Service (USPS) for clarity.
Their response reads, in part:
“The Postal Service is seeing very limited cases of addresses that are not registered as multi-unit buildings which could lead to COVID test kit ordering difficulties. This is occurring in a small percentage of orders.”
Morris lives in a duplex and says none of her neighbors ordered a test to her address.
One of her biggest concerns is someone stealing more than her COVID tests.
“I got used so kind of not happy about it when you know, tax returns are coming around or W2s you know, personal information," Morris said. "And someone's going to be at my mailbox, getting into my stuff.”
The USPS says if you see an error message when ordering your test, or face any other hurdles, file a service request by contacting their help desk at at 1-800-ASK-USPS.