Fraudsters sold illegal Covid testing kids in shameless bid to make money out of pandemic

Two men have been sentenced for selling unauthorised Covid-19 tests during the pandemic.

Ron Huss-Smickler, 41 from Birmingham, and Steven Lawrence Beckford, 39 from Edgbaston, bought the non-certified Covid-19 tests from Chinese shopping website Alibaba in March 2020.

They then sold the tests, marketed as ‘15 Minute Rapid Home Self-Testing Kits’, online at £39.95 to customers in the UK, Europe, and the USA, through their business, Be Corona Safe.

The tests were split down into individual kits, with the pair even making fake instructions pamphlets and adding fake CE markings purporting that the kits met the European Conformity requirements.

The pair started planning the scheme as early as January 2020 when they discussed how they could make money off of the back of the emerging health crisis. One told the other that facemasks seemed a good opportunity, “albeit capitalising on tragedy”.

They also applied to the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) for emergency use authorisation, and continued to say that they were waiting for approval even after the MHRA refused authorisation.

Discussions showed that they were expecting to earn up to £150,000 a month and wanted to increase their pricing to £50 a kit at one point.

When a GP purchased a number of tests, the men believed they could sell more widely to the NHS, prompting Beckford to state: “Good news Team! We have just closed a deal with an NHS GP Practice for testing kits! So now we can officially say ‘We provide Medical Supplies to the NHS’ ????”

Evidence suggested they had taken orders for more than 700 kits, selling 654 of them, before being arrested.

There was no evidence that the test kits worked when used in the way they were advertised.

Huss-Smickler was sentenced to 18 months in jail and Beckford received a four-month sentence, suspended for two years.

Both men have also been disqualified from acting as a company director.

Sarah Melo, specialist prosecutor from the CPS said the men tried to “capitalise” on the fears of the public during a global crisis.

“The defendants quickly spotted an opportunity in the early stages of the pandemic, which was in reality an attempt to capitalise on the fears of the general public amid a global crisis,” she said.

“They carried on their business aware that what they were doing was wrong, and their stated intention was to make huge profits.

“There was no evidence that the test kits worked when used in the way they were advertised, but this did not deter them selling them without any regard to the welfare of their customers.

“We work closely with investigators such as the MHRA and the NCA and will not hesitate to prosecute where there is evidence of fraud.”