Fake medicines, recycled PPE: Scammers worsen India COVID misery

Scammers rip off desperate COVID-19 patients and relatives amid India’s devastating second wave of the pandemic.

From fake medicines to fire extinguishers disguised as oxygen cylinders and recycled personal protective equipment (PPE), India’s coronavirus crisis has been lucrative for its ever-inventive army of scammers, with sometimes deadly consequences. Komal Taneja’s husband Chandrakant died gasping for breath at his New Delhi home last month after the oxygen canister that they paid $200 for on the internet never arrived. “We desperately tried to find a hospital bed for a week … Two private hospitals asked us for a million rupees ($13,800) in advance,” Komal, her voice cracking on the phone, told AFP news agency.