Roseville company taking orders for coronavirus masks may be scam, BBB warns
The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers about a possible scam involving a Roseville-based company that purports to sell carbon fiber filtration masks, marketed as a measure to protect users from contracting the coronavirus, after dozens of customers reported they paid premium prices but never received masks.
The BBB of Northeast California in a news release last week said it has “received over twenty complaints and counting from consumers across the country” about an e-commerce company that calls itself Family Prepping Association, registered in Roseville.
The complaints basically allege that the company took customers’ money, never delivered the products they ordered and then stopped responding to them.
“These consumers say their masks were not delivered and the company will not reply to their inquiries,” the news release said. “The masks are marketed to people looking to protect themselves and their families from the COVID-19 virus and are sold on the company’s website.”
The BBB wrote to the company on March 31 and April 7 regarding the allegations and has not yet received a response. The bureau comes short of calling the company a scam, and no formal charges have yet been filed against the merchant, but the BBB notes it has received numerous complaints about Family Prepping Association via its “Scam Tracker.”
A BBB review of Family Prepping Association’s advertising also accuses the company of making false and fraudulent claims, including emails the company reportedly sent to customers with statements such as, “did you know that we’ve got the masks that Amazon and Google aren’t allowed to be selling???” and “We are literally the number one prepping company in the world right now.”
The Sacramento BBB therefore has assigned Family Prepping Association an “F” rating.
The company website is registered to a man named Michael Hat, whom many customers in complaints to the BBB referred to as “Mike,” according to the news release.
One complainant wrote to BBB’s Scam Tracker that they ordered two masks for $59.99 and never received them. Another accused the company of upcharging, saying they also never received their order, but found similar masks for half or one-third the price on Amazon.
“Now I have a USPS tracking number that is bogus,” one consumer wrote in a complaint, according to the BBB news release. “... I’m getting more emails from Mike with food offers, guns and ammo, and more. Of course, they do not answer emails sent to their support email address.”
The company website includes options to order anywhere from one to 50 “carbon masks,” with the price per mask getting cheaper at higher volumes. One mask is listed at $29.99, while the website shows 50 masks for a price of $814.98. The site also promises free shipping and says products will ship within eight to 18 days.
A phone call to the number listed on Family Prepping’s website directed to a voicemail saying its call center is currently closed. Family Prepping did not immediately respond to The Bee’s emailed request for comment. Efforts to reach Hat for comment were unsuccessful.
State leaders including Gov. Gavin Newsom and top health officials have told the general public that they should not buy filtration, or N95, masks because they are important pieces of personal protective equipment for medical workers that are in very high demand and short supply throughout much of the country.
The Better Business Bureau and law enforcement agencies from local police to the FBI have warned the public about a high volume of scams designed to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic.
