During the recent Coronavirus pandemic I wrote many times about the Federal Trade Commission’s actions against the makers of various unscrupulous scammers who peddled phony cures and treatments for the Coronavirus.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)  sent out 425 warning letters with cease and desist orders to companies marketing phony cures and got court orders against these companies

In July of 2020 the FTC sent out a waring letter and ease and desist order against Gary Kong, Timothy Wetzel and their companies K.W. Technology and K.W. Technology NV Inc the makers and marketers of what they called the Invisible Mask which was a badge worn around the neck which they claimed was scientifically proven to protect anyone wearing it from Covid.  The defendants advertised this ineffective, phony product on their own website, YouTube and Facebook where they called it “The 1 Virus Buster Card.”  None of their representations were true or supported by any scientific evidence.

Now two years later, three of the four defendants in this case have settled with the FTC and pursuant to the settlement are banned from selling this bogus product.  The settlement is awaiting approval of the judge overseeing the case, which is expected to be done soon.

TIPS

As for healthcare products in general, you should be skeptical about any company that promises miraculous cures to illnesses and medical conditions.  The world is full of snake oil salesmen.  You should also be wary of any healthcare product that is sold exclusively either over the Internet or through mail-order advertisements. The best course of action is to ask your physician about the effectiveness of a particular product or program before you buy it.  As for the Coronavirus specifically, the best places to get reliable information are the World Health Organization https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus, the FDA https://www.fda.gov/patients/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-resources-patients or the Centers for Disease Control https://www.cdc.gov/

Remember B.S. – Be skeptical.  Whenever there will be breakthroughs to treat, prevent or cure any disease, particularly COVID 19 you are going to hear about it through legitimate news sources first rather than through ads in emails, text messages or posts on social media.

For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide was  cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive  free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and type in your email address in the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”