Online Baby Formula Scams Target Parents Amid Shortage: WI BBB

WISCONSIN — Parents searching for baby formula online in Wisconsin and across the United States should be aware as scammers try to exploit the nationwide shortage, the Better Business Bureau announced Thursday.

"Shortages in the supply of baby formula are leading new moms to find other ways of finding the much-needed item — and risking themselves to potential online scams," the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau said in a statement.

Online shopping scams are the riskiest, a 2021 risk tracker report from the BBB said. The baby formula scam involves a parent contacting a seller after seeing an ad or post saying they have baby formula available. The seller shows photos of the cans available in a direct message and takes payment through a peer-to-peer platform such as Paypal or Venmo.

But the formula never arrives, the BBB said.

Parents should keep watch for these signs of a potential scam, which include the following.

• Positive reviews on the website have been copied from honest sites or created by scammers. Some review websites claim to be independent but are funded by scammers, the BBB said.
• No address to a brick-and-mortar shop or the address goes to a parking lot, residence or unrelated business than what is listed on the website.
• Misspellings, grammatical errors or other descriptive language that's inconsistent with the product.
• The seller is communicative until payment is made, but disappears once the payment clears.

Shoppers can check a business's rating and accreditation status at BBB.org, the bureau said.

Meanwhile, retailers in Wisconsin like Walgreens, Target and CVS Health have placed limits on how much formula parents can purchase.

See Also: Baby Formula Shortage In WI: CVS, Walgreens, Target Limit Sales

Abbott Laboratories, which shut down a plant in Sturgis, Michigan, following a recall, said it would have more product on store shelves in two months. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration would have to allow the plant to open again after formula produced at the plant was linked to two deaths.

The agency recognized consumers' frustration with the shortages and "ensuring the availability of safe, sole-source nutrition products like infant formula is of the utmost importance to the FDA," commissioner Dr. Robert M. Califf said in a statement. Some measures the FDA might take include streamlining paperwork and allowing for more formula imports.