Thousands of women are being ‘misled’ by a firm selling self-swab rape kits as a ‘deterrent’ which could lead to attackers walking free, police have warned.

A company falsely claiming to be funded by the police, government and universities has become a social media sensation after launching rape kits for £20, telling victims they can get justice by self-swabbing for the presence of their attacker’s DNA.

More than 8,000 kits have been given to university students by the firm Enough, which claims they are an active ‘deterrent’ to rapists.

The firm, selling the kits on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, posed last month outside Downing Street announcing they had delivered 100 kits to the Government.

Enough plans to sell the kits in pharmacies, schools, workplaces and on Amazon, falsely claiming that police are already using them as evidence in prosecutions.

But police, prosecutors and MPs say victims are being ‘sold a lie’, warning the swabs offer no proof of rape, the chances of them being admissible in court are ‘infinitesimally low’ and the firm’s ‘dangerous’ misleading claims could lead to predators walking free.

The warning comes after the first abuse case involving a self-swab kit was dropped by police, leaving a child victim traumatised.

Now the National Police Chiefs Council, Crown Prosecution Service, MPs, forensic bodies and more than 30 rape and victims charities are warning that victims are being put at risk.

Katie White, the Cofounder of Enough, which plans to sell the self-swab rape kits in pharmacies, schools, workplaces and on Amazon, falsely claiming that police are already using them as evidence in prosecutions

A photograph of the contents of an Enough self-swab kit. Critics say a DNA swab done at home is no proof of rape or even sexual intercourse

The Government’s Independent Adviser on Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Violence, Professor Katrin Hohl has backed calls by rape charities and MPs for a ban on the sale of self-swab kits after similar versions were outlawed in several US states.

Enough claim that its swab, which resembles a cotton wool bud, can be stored for 20 years giving women ‘a sense of control and power’ as they have the option to go to police later with their attacker’s DNA.

But critics say a DNA swab done at home is no proof of rape or even sexual intercourse.

The kits are supplied without gloves and victims are instructed to send samples of semen or saliva in the post to Enough, risking contamination and damage in transit as it will not be frozen until arriving at a lab days later.