MONTREAL -- A family on the West Island of Montreal is “flabbergasted” after being visited by a purported nurse offering in-home COVID-19 tests.

Public Health officials say it is a scam and that there are no authorized at-home tests being conducted in Quebec.

“In scary times like this I just can’t believe it,” Pierrefonds resident Loralee Rubino says. “I’m flabbergasted that she would just go door-to-door like that.”

Rubino says her husband spoke to the alleged fraudster when the woman rang the doorbell on Wednesday about 6 pm. She asked if anyone at the home would like to take a test for COVID-19.

Rubino’s husband’s co-worker had told him about a similar reported fraud elsewhere in Montreal that very morning. “He said ‘I know this is a scam. Get off my property’.”

The woman then turned and rushed toward her white van, which was parked in front of their home and she drove away.

The alleged fraudster is described as a woman in her 30s. She wore a white winter jacket and a white toque. She spoke French at first and then switched into English, Rubino says.

Rubino and her husband called 911 and the police are investigating the incident, she says.

Jocelyne Boudreault, a spokesperson for the Montreal Department of Public Health, said there are “absolutely no at-home tests for COVID-19.”

Such tests are only being conducted in official sites determined by public health officials.

“We do them only there because they must be done carefully and only by professionals,” Boudreault says. “Never buy a test like that or a product online for COVID-19.”