Have you fallen for one of these 400 bogus COVID health claims? The FTC hopes not

If you’ve heard that infrared saunas, ozone therapy, IV vitamin C infusions, exercise therapy, iodine, or peptide therapy can prevent or treat COVID-19, you’re not alone. Those scams are circling, but the Federal Trade Commission is trying to stop them.

The FTC has sent warnings to close to 400 companies to get them to stop alleging that these treatments and cures, which have no scientific backing, work. The tenth round of letters stemming from this crackdown went out last week.

Congress passed the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act in December to ban deceptive acts or practices in “the treatment, cure, prevention, mitigation, or diagnosis of COVID–19.”

Those who violate the law may be fined as much as $43,792 per violation.

COVID-19-related fraud cost U.S. consumers $399 million between January 2020 and April 7, 2021, according to the FTC.

Last month, the FTC brought its first case under the new act, charging a St. Louis-based chiropractor and his company for marketing vitamin D and zinc products as just as effective or more effective than the COVID-19 vaccines currently available.