Over the past few years, there has been a rash of fraudulent American Heart Association training courses throughout California & the United States. Here is a guide that will assist you.
If you have taken a fraudulent course or if you think a course you are about to take is fraudulent, it is your personal responsibility as a good citizen to report it to the American Heart Association.
Some clues that you may be dealing with a fraudulent CPR company:
If you are wondering how a company can teach multiple classes at the same time, it is not possible. Some companies, list BLS, ACLS, and PALS courses all starting at the exact same time. It is not possible to teach 3 different courses simultaneously, since they all have different videos.
What to do:
Email the American Heart Association at:
[email protected]
The American Heart Association does not certify training courses created by other organizations. Any claims that training products or materials are “AHA Certified,” “AHA Approved,” “AHA Compliant” or “created by AHA certified” people, where the “AHA” means the American Heart Association, are not true and are usually fake websites with fake certifications. All cards must be issued by an authorized training center of the American Heart Association.
All online courses must be taken via the American Heart Association, & skills testing must be done with a certified instructor or VAM (voice assisted manikin)
Beware of CPR training companies that only accept, Venmo, cash, or PayPal. Some of these companies do this to avoid paying taxes and can open and close their businesses quickly.
Also, if you pay for your CPR certification course in cash, you have no recourse if you are scammed. Be sure to pay by credit card so that you can dispute the charges, in case you are scammed and never receive your certification card.
Acceptable Courses Over Zoom
Take the official BLS Online Heartcode or Heartsaver Online CPR and First-aid course. Then skills test with an American Heart Association Instructor over Zoom in an office with CPR manikins.
Not Acceptable Courses Over Zoom
An instructor conducts a Zoom meeting with you and you do NOT have the proper CPR manikins and AED in front of you.
ACLS or PALS skills testing over Zoom is strictly forbidden!
What to do:
Email the American Heart Association at: [email protected]
Many CPR companies send their students an online test from eLearning.heart.org. If you take the written test and then the fraudulent company emails you an American Heart Association certification card, you have been scammed. Beware, this is not a valid American Heart Association course. You must practice on CPR manikins to be considered a valid course.
What to do:
Email the American Heart Association at:
[email protected]
If you are taking an instructor-led course, according to the American Heart Association rules, you must have the book or ebook “before, during, and after the class.”
If they loan a book to you, rent a book to you, or do not ask you to buy a book, you are taking a fraudulent course.
What to do:
Email the American Heart Association at:
[email protected]
The instructor to student ratio is very important, so that the instructor can properly monitor the students during the training. If you are taking a course and there is one instructor and more than 9 students, you should alert the American Heart Association.
BLS: 1 instructor to every 9 students
ACLS: 1 instructor to every 6 students
PALS: 1 instructor to every 6 students
What to do:
Email the American Heart Association at: [email protected]
If an instructor teaches a non-compliant course such as one of the examples above, it is possible that the agency can revoke the certification card. And in some cases, they can go go back the previous three months and revoke all of the certification cards that the instructor taught.
This should be a major concern for schools, associations, and publicly offered courses. Imagine the crisis you would face if all of the students trained had their cards revoked. All of those students would have to be issued refunds and be retrained properly.
