Thursday, March 10, 2022
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalled powdered infant formulas, and scammers are looking to take advantage of this recall. Our office has received reports of people going door to door claiming to represent the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). The impersonator offers to pick up recalled formula from WIC participants, then exchanges the product at the store to collect the refund.
WIC participants and parents across the state should follow these tips to protect their families and avoid recall scammers:
- Do not trust people at your door claiming to be from the WIC program. No one from the state or the WIC program is going door to door to collect formula cans.
- Check to see if your infant’s formula has been recalled. You can check the lot number for the product on Abbott’s website. If the formula is recalled, return it to receive a refund.
- If your infant consumed recalled formula, monitor them for symptoms. If your infant is experiencing symptoms including poor feeding, irritability, temperature changes, jaundice, grunting breaths, abnormal movements, lethargy, rash, or blood in the urine or stool, contact your health care provider immediately.
Scammers often use current events like recalls as an opportunity to trick people. With these tips, however, North Carolinians can protect the health of their infants and avoid fraudsters. If you believe that you have been the victim of a scam, call our office at 877-5-NO-SCAM or file a complaint online at https://ncdoj.gov/file-a-complaint/.