Just4FunNC
11-05-2005, 10:15 PM
Beware Flu Shot Scams
Scammers are now hitting the market with phony flu shots. As many as 1,000 Exxon Mobil employees and 14 residents of a senior citizens home in Houston were injected with fake vaccine, authorities said Friday, and the owner of a home health care company was arrested.
Preliminary tests indicated the syringes were filled with purified water, U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said.
The employees who received the shots at a health fair in mid-October at the oil company's complex of refineries and chemical plants in Baytown, just east of Houston.
A local home health care company supplied the "vaccine."
The scam was uncovered when a nurse hired to give the shots noticed irregularities in the vaccine and syringes, Rosenberg said.
The owner of the health several home health care companies that supplied the "vaccine" was arrested in connection with the scam.
"This is a very callous and disturbing crime," Rosenberg said. "He purposefully put at risk many, many people."
Scammers are now hitting the market with phony flu shots. As many as 1,000 Exxon Mobil employees and 14 residents of a senior citizens home in Houston were injected with fake vaccine, authorities said Friday, and the owner of a home health care company was arrested.
Preliminary tests indicated the syringes were filled with purified water, U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said.
The employees who received the shots at a health fair in mid-October at the oil company's complex of refineries and chemical plants in Baytown, just east of Houston.
A local home health care company supplied the "vaccine."
The scam was uncovered when a nurse hired to give the shots noticed irregularities in the vaccine and syringes, Rosenberg said.
The owner of the health several home health care companies that supplied the "vaccine" was arrested in connection with the scam.
"This is a very callous and disturbing crime," Rosenberg said. "He purposefully put at risk many, many people."