The Perfect Part

UPDATE 5/4/20: The Perfect Part has removed the FDA’s logo from its face mask listings on eBay, in addition to false claims that the products are “FDA & CE approved.” Compare the image above with how the top of the listing looks now. Our original ad alert follows.

An opportunistic eBay seller is taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to sell alleged surgical face masks it falsely claims are “FDA & CE approved.” (CE stands for Conformité Européenne and represents conformance with European regulators.) In addition, Los Angeles-based The Perfect Part, which describes itself in its eBay profile as a “mobile phone parts wholesaler,” is using the FDA’s logo on sponsored listings for different quantities of masks, in violation of the agency’s logo policy, which only allows the FDA to use the FDA logo.

The FDA Logo Policy is clear:

The FDA logo is for the official use of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and not for use on private sector materials. To the public, such use would send a message that FDA favors or endorses a private sector organization or the organization’s activities, products, services, and/or personnel (either overtly or tacitly), which FDA does not and cannot do. Unauthorized use of the FDA logo may violate federal law and subject those responsible to civil and/or criminal liability.

(Unauthorized use of the FDA logo was one of TINA.org’s deceptive ad trends for 2020, after we found not one, but two teeth-whitening kits making unauthorized use of the agency’s emblem on product packaging.)

Meanwhile, the FDA says on its website that it “has not cleared, approved, or authorized any … surgical masks for specific protection or prevention against the virus that causes COVID-19.” There are a number of FDA-cleared surgical masks, just not specifically for protection or prevention against the coronavirus. (For the differences between the terms “FDA approved” and “FDA cleared,” click here.)

But even if the masks The Perfect Part is selling on eBay are FDA cleared — and we’re not so sure they are — the company is claiming the products are FDA approved. And that cannot be true.

TINA.org has alerted the FDA and eBay to the company’s deceptive FDA claims. Check back for updates.

Find more of our coverage on coronavirus scams here.