Coronavirus Scams Increase

While securing the domain name corona-cure.com may seem like you’ve scored big, it can also draw attention from government agencies charged with protecting the public from unsafe products and marketers making false claims about cures.
 
Both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Food & Drug Administration (FDA) are reporting an uptick in activities stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
 
Consumer complaints to the FTC related to the coronavirus have surged in recent weeks, the agency recently reported. Since the beginning of the year, the FTC has received more than 7,800 coronavirus-related reports from consumers, double what they were about a week ago. The top categories of coronavirus-related fraud complaints include travel and vacation related reports about cancellations and refunds, reports about problems with online shopping, mobile texting scams, and government and business imposter scams, said FTC. 
 
“We will not tolerate businesses seeking to take advantage of consumers’ concerns and fears regarding coronavirus disease, exigent circumstances, or financial distress,” Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joe Simons said in a press statement last week.
https://www.ftc.gov/coronavirus/ftc-in-action
 
In addition, FDA said its taking “urgent measures to protect consumers from certain products that, without approval or authorization by FDA, claim to mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19 in people.”
 
Companies have been making claims around a number of so-called treatments, including salt therapy and various supplements. 
 
In one letter, dated March 26, 2020, FDA and FTC sent a warning letter to Corona-cure.com after reviewed its website in which the company was selling Corona-Cure Coronavirus Infection Prevention Nasal Spray for sale in the United States and that this product is intended to mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19 in people. 
 
Some examples of the claims on the company's website that caught the ire of the agency were:
 
“Corona-Cure Antiseptic Nasal Defense kills viruses of the Coronaviridae family including the 2019 Novel Coronavirus and SARS at their point of entry into your body”

“Our instant protection nasal spray is designed to protect your vulnerable nasal passages from infection by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus specifically and other viruses in general.”
 
“Corona-Cure contains an antiseptic that will kill the virus on contact before it is able to enter your body.”
 
“Active Protection from Airborne Coronavirus Using Proprietary Blend of Oils and Disinfectant” 
 
FDA said it “advise you to review your websites, product labels, and other labeling and promotional materials to ensure that you are not misleadingly representing your products as safe and effective for a COVID-19 related use for which they have not been approved by FDA and that you do not make claims that misbrand the products in violation of the FD&C Act and noted that within 48 hours, the company needed to send an email to [email protected] describing the specific steps it had taken to correct these violations. 
 
In addition, it is unlawful under the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 41 et seq., to advertise that a product can prevent, treat, or cure human disease unless you possess competent and reliable scientific evidence, including, when appropriate, well-controlled human clinical studies, substantiating that the claims are true at the time they are made. To make or exaggerate such claims, whether directly or indirectly, through the use of a product name, website name, metatags, or other means, without rigorous scientific evidence sufficient to substantiate the claims, violates the FTC Act.
 
“There currently are no vaccines, pills, potions, lotions, lozenges or over-the-counter products available to treat or cure COVID-19,” said FDA in its letter.
 
The FTC is releasing numbers regularly on its Explore Data web page detailing coronavirus-related complaints from consumers.