Woman sold fake negative COVID tests for $200 to travelers at Utah airport, feds say
.jpg "A woman pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on May 11, 2022. She’s accused of selling fake COVID-19 tests at the Salt Lake City International Airport in Utah.")
A woman is accused of selling fake negative COVID-19 tests at a Utah airport, prosecutors said.
Linda Tufui Toli pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on Wednesday, May 11, according to plea documents.
Toli sold the bogus tests while she worked at XpresCheck, a COVID testing company that provided COVID-19 testing in the Salt Lake City International Airport, court documents state.
An attorney for Toli did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
From July to September 2021, Toli used her position to defraud the company in several ways, prosecutors said in court documents.
She first would intercept calls from travelers who needed tests to travel to destinations that required proof of negative COVID-19 tests, including Hawaii and Israel, prosecutors said. She then would cancel their appointments, tell them false information about what documents they needed, then directly sold people fake negative COVID-19 test results, the documents state.
Travelers paid $200 to $250 dollars for each counterfeit test, which they sent to Toli through Cash App or to her husband’s Venmo, court documents show.
She created the negative tests on her phone and with her personal email address before sending travelers with instructions on how to upload the sham results, prosecutors said.
Toli faces a maximum of three months in prison, according to her plea agreement.
This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Woman sold fake negative COVID tests for $200 to travelers at Utah airport, feds say."
