Beware of fraudulent gadgets that piggyback on 5G conspiracy theory!

There were also bad guys during the earthquake and pandemic. Forgive me.

Unfortunately, there are suspicious salesmen lurking in the world of the Internet, waiting for new conspiracy theories and health laws to become popular. Then, with a "panacea that works for everything", good people sweat and take away the money they earn.

Humans are creatures that fear the "unknown," and new technologies also tend to be fearful "unknown." So it's no wonder that with the dawn of 5G, new scams emerge across the online market.

Products that "protect from 5G" that are infested on EC sites

If you take a look at sales sites such as Amazon, Etsy, and eBay, you will find a lot of products that "protect you" from the harm of 5G. Its contents range from office file shelves in Faraday cages (metal meshes that block electromagnetic waves) to thumb drives that generate "holographic shields that prevent 5G waves."

There are also beaded accessories made of Shunga stone, a silver lace hood-like face cover, and a strange sticker ($ 40) that says "scientifically proven to cut 5G waves 100%". …. There is so much variety that you will be impressed when you think of it like this. In addition, a silver-coated tank top for $ 100, a copper-covered baseball cap, and a bamboo and cotton "organic maternity band to protect the fetus ($ 90)" ... At this point, it's like "Are there people who buy it?"

Searching for "5G protection" on Amazon will show over 6,000 results. There are also ordinary smartphone cases, but smartphone peripheral items are rather a minority. Etsy also returns more than 4,400 search results, but most of them are Shunga stone accessories, pyramids, or knit hats that seem to block 5G.

If you look closely, all the effects are suspicious

The price range is often around $ 15 to $ 30, but all of them are fun and profitable products for fraudulent villains. It seems that some scammers have made a fortune of $ 500,000 when they tried to sell it as a "5G protective lotion" by mixing old Vaseline and sunscreen.

There are only ton demo products, but these are mainly products that claim to "protect" you from the electromagnetic fields and radiation brought about by 5G. For example, Faraday Cage's slogan says, "If you put it around your router, you can block 5G signals." However, if you think carefully about how the Faraday cage works, it is clear that all signals such as Wi-Fi will be blocked, and Wi-Fi routers do not emit 5G signals in the first place.

The Shunga stone product we saw is said to be "made from minerals mined in the Karelia region of Russia." 98% of the components of real Shunga stone are carbon, and a trace amount of fullerene is contained, and this fullerene is a kind of carbon molecule that "blocks electromagnetic frequency".

However, in many cases, the proportion of carbon and the amount of fullerenes in the jewelry and accessories sold are much lower than in the advertising claims. In the first place, there is not much scientific basis to support the essential efficacy. Even if you try to find out about Shunga stone, the first thing that comes up is all the unsubstantiated spiritual articles such as actual research and research.

The 5G sticker is said to protect you from 5G electromagnetic waves, but let's clarify here. It's a story only in science fiction novels, such as stickers that block radiation.

When it comes to 5G prevention lotion, it is said that it "physically protects the skin", but if you look closely at the ingredients, it cannot even be used for UV protection.

"5G Conspiracy Theory" is the present tense of the old "high frequency phobia"

With the spread of the new coronavirus, the 5G conspiracy theory spread rapidly, and even an incident occurred in which a mobile phone base station was attacked. However, fear of health damage caused by high-frequency radio waves, not limited to 5G, has existed for a long time.

Already in the early 1900s, newspapers published a long article about the dangers of high-frequency currents by several doctors. This is called "radiophobia" and is the same reasoning as "you should stay away from the microwave" (did you say that when you were a kid?). Even when mobile phones became widespread in the 1990s, there was a theory that "too much radio waves from mobile phones will cause cancer" and that "long phones should be made into speaker calls". Few people actually did it.

According to the Conversation, an academic site, 5G panic is often combined with other conspiracy theories such as "government concealment," "doctors concealing cancer treatments," and "military mind control experiments." That's right.

A paper that spurred the old "high frequency phobia".

According to the New York Times (NYT), these 5G conspiracy theories are derived from similar theories in the past, while at the same time being a consultant and physicist hired by the Broward County Public Schools in Florida. It is also said to be derived from a graph created by Dr. Bill P. Curry of. The graph appears in his paper entitled "Microwave Absorption in Brain Tissue (Gray Matter)" published in 2000.

Curry wrote the research paper because he was worried that buying a laptop for students and installing a wireless network in the same school district in Florida would pose a health risk ...? Was the trigger.

A graph based on Curry's predictions shows the real risk that "radio frequencies can cause brain tumors." However, NYT points out that there is one major oversight in this study. That is, human skin exerts a barrier function against high-frequency electromagnetic waves.

However, this paper has changed people's consciousness.

Did distrust of authority and government convince one doctor's words?

People believe what they want to believe. Even if there is no clear evidence that "high frequencies, a type of non-ionizing radiation, do not have the energy to destroy or rewrite DNA," that is not the reason. Even if the World Health Organization (WHO) declares that "the level of high frequency exposure from base stations and wireless networks is very low" and "the high frequency is rapidly dissipated with distance, there is no harm to human health", I hear it. I don't have it. It doesn't matter if both the Federal Communications Commission and the US Food and Drug Administration say, "There isn't enough evidence of a causal link between high frequencies and cancer."

Instead, one well-known doctor rings the alarm bell, which is persuasive. What's more, what if there was a suspicion that "the government must be hiding something" originally? Pandora's box will be opened and never closed again. But just because people are worried doesn't mean they can sell products on Amazon, Etsy, or eBay that scammers can clearly identify as fake. Unfortunately, these products are rampant on platforms like Amazon.

Amazon with a third-party seller is a cobblestone mix

Over the years, Amazon has transformed from a large online retail store to a flea market with products of questionable quality and safety. This is because many of Amazon's products come from third-party retailers. Of course, there are companies that do business in good faith, but there are many who say, "If you make a profit, you can sell anything."

According to a 2019 Wall Street Journal survey, 4,152 of Amazon's products were either declared "unsafe" by federal agencies or banned. Of these, 116 products were labeled with fraudulent labels such as "FDA Approved," and 80 items that Amazon had already announced to discontinue, such as sleeping mats for infants that were banned by the FDA, were identified.

In addition, CNBC has found that expired infant formula and baby crackers were regularly sold on Amazon's marketplace. In such an environment, it's no wonder that 5G-related spoofing is on the market. Of course, these products are basically ineffective.

In fact, Amazon is working to prevent counterfeiting by developing a brand registration and Transparency program (a tracking service with its own code). In addition, a program called Project Zero has been introduced that allows branded companies to remove counterfeit products. However, these measures have not been able to deal with the fraudulent product of "protecting" people from 5G. Gizmodo asked Amazon, "Isn't there a scam that has no scientific basis or is suspicious?", But there was no response.

To be sure, 5G-related fraudulent products are not as harmful to humans as expired foods and illegal supplements (also sold on Amazon). Those who believe that Shunga stone really protects them from 5G will not realize that it's just an accessory.

However, the proliferation of these products on Internet retail and resale sites is due to the lack of consumer protection in online shopping and the retail platform becoming a den of misinformation as well as SNS. It represents getting. Amazon sells fake merchandise to the WSJ because the company does not actually sell the merchandise and is legally protected from liability for what third-party sellers post (Section 230). He said he would not be held responsible, if any.

Government measures and consumers' "eyes to identify the real thing" are important

That is, unless the government begins to regulate retailers, or at least a bill that enhances consumer protection, conspiracy theories born of misinformation keep fraudsters and sites that allow them sucking sweet juices. Will be. Of course, "5G phobia" will eventually decline, and the profitability of the market will decline. However, around that time, a new "health threat" will emerge and replace 5G.

"It works for anything" generally means that it doesn't work for anything. Be careful not to buy a fake from a bad guy who piggybacks on the "5G Conspiracy Theory".