- FTC Sued to Stop Deceptive Marketing of the ‘1 Virus Buster Invisible Mask’
- Product claimed to use ‘quantum theory technology’ to kill airborne viruses
- The FBI has charged KW Technology and its founders Gary Kong and Timothy Wetzel
The Federal Trade Commission has filed an enforcement case to stop the makers of the ‘1 Virus Buster Invisible Mask’ from falsely claiming that wearing the badge-like device protects against COVID-19 and other viruses.
The FTC complaint names KW Technologies and its founders Gary Kong and Timothy Wetzel, seeking to ban them from making unsupported health claims about their so-called Invisible Mask.
Marketing materials reveal that the device is not a mask at all, but rather a card or badge that can be clipped to a pocket or worn on a lanyard.
“Kills virtually all viruses up to a depth of one meter,” says a label on the card, whose creators claim uses “quantum theory technology” and “ion exchange science” to eradicate germs.
“Defendants’ claims that their products can substitute for approved COVID-19 vaccines are bogus,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement Tuesday.
The FTC has filed an enforcement case to stop the makers of the ‘1 Virus Buster Invisible Mask’ from falsely claiming that wearing the badge-like device protects against COVID-19
The FTC complaint names KW Technologies and its founders Gary Kong (left) and Timothy Wetzel (right), seeking to block them from making unsupported health claims
“The FTC will use every tool at its disposal to stop false and unsubstantiated health claims that put consumers at risk,” he added.
The complaint alleges that Kong, Wetzel and the two companies they operate, KW Technology Inc. and KW Technology NV Inc., have violated the FTC Act and the COVID Consumer Protection Act through their marketing and sale of the Invisible Mask.
An email to the companies seeking comment was not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.
According to the KW Technology website, founder Kong is a knight in the principality of Monaco and chairman of the ‘Global Hero Foundation’.
His biography also claims that Presidents Obama and Trump both awarded him in recognition of his community service efforts.
Wetzel is described on the company site as the CTO and co-founder of KW, as well as a “former nuclear physics, NASA scientist, nevy (sic) scientist officer.”
The company claimed that the Invisible Mask product “uses quantum theory technology and combines known virus and bacteria killing compounds.”
‘It is safe, simple and effective. All you have to do is hang it around your neck or attach it to your collar, close to your mouth and nose. . . it kills 99.9% of the most harmful bacteria and viruses. . . within three feet,” according to marketing materials.
According to KW Technology’s website, founder Kong (above) is a knight in the Principality of Monaco and chairman of the ‘Global Hero Foundation’
KW’s website lists the purported awards and achievements of its founders
The FTC claims that the defendants have no reliable scientific evidence to support the claim that the invisible mask can prevent any human disease.
They also falsely claimed that the invisible mask had “FDA approval” and that the materials used to make it were “EPA approved,” the FTC said.
Regulators say the FDA’s “Certificate of Registration,” posted on the KW website, is “fake” and that such an agency certificate does not, in fact, exist.
According to the FTC, Kong and the two corporate defendants have agreed to settle the charges by paying a $150,000 fine and accepting a ban on the sale of products intended to treat COVID-19 unless they can be scientifically substantiated .
The order also prohibits Kong from making claims about health-related products unless they have scientific evidence that the claim is true, and from making misrepresentations about the health benefits, performance, efficacy, safety or side effects of products.
Wetzel has not agreed to the proposed settlement and is the target of ongoing FTC litigation.