Every day we are reading about researchers studying potential ways to prevent, treat or cure COVID-19. However, at this time there certainly are no products you can buy online, or services you can get at a neighborhood clinic, that are proven to work. But that doesn’t stop some sellers from pitching products that claim to protect or heal you.
Your takeaway: If there’s a medical breakthrough, you’re not going to hear about it for the first time through an ad or sales pitch.
In the FTC’s latest round of warning letters to sellers of unproven products and services, the agency is seeing some far-fetched claims. The letters address a wide range of products and supposed treatments, including: listening to a music CD of frequencies to resist the Coronavirus, taking high doses of intravenous vitamin C, using Chinese herbs, acupuncture, chiropractic treatments, ozone therapy, bio-electric shields, HEPA air purifiers, UV light therapy, and more.
To date, the FTC has announced more than 120 warning letters sent to marketers making COVID-19 health claims for their products and services. For a complete list, see ftc.gov/coronavirus/warning-letters.
The letters tell the companies to immediately stop making all claims that their products can treat or cure the Coronavirus. The letters also require the companies to notify the FTC within 48 hours of the specific actions they have taken to address the agency’s concerns. The agency will follow up with companies that fail to make adequate corrections.
The FTC also will continue to monitor social media, online marketplaces, and incoming complaints to help ensure that the companies do not continue to market fraudulent products under a different name or on another website.
Want more information on the latest scams we’re seeing? Sign up for our consumer alerts. See a product claiming to prevent, treat or cure the Coronavirus? Report it to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.
12 Comments
Read Our Privacy Act Statement
It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.
Comment Policy
This is a moderated blog; we review all comments before they are posted. We expect participants to treat each other and the bloggers with respect. We will not post comments that do not comply with our commenting policy. We may edit comments to remove links to commercial websites or personal information before posting them.
We won’t post:
Comments submitted to this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personal information. Also, do not use this blog to report fraud; instead, file a complaint.