The ad shows Elon Musk standing in front of a factory, apparently shutting it down, and promises that a plug-in gadget can cut an electricity bill by up to 90 percent. Stock is limited, it says. Hurry.
It is the pitch behind StopWatt, a small device that has also gone by names such as WattSaver. Green Matters, citing MalwareTips, says it has been sold under at least eight names and is no bigger than a nightlight. Reuters found no evidence that Musk has anything to do with it.
What the ads got wrong
According to Green Matters, some of the fake ads use a photograph of Musk at the Tesla Gigafactory near Berlin taken in September 2020, with the backdrop swapped for a plant labelled “WattSaver Intelligent.” Fox News told Reuters that a glowing endorsement attributed to its host Sean Hannity was false. Snopes pointed to a testimonial from a supposed former Tesla employee, Dorothy Smith, whom it believes is a made-up person, and to ads that borrow the name of Nikola Tesla, who died in 1943.
Ordinary shoppers have noticed the problem too. In a report from WCPO in Cincinnati, Sarah Petit said she was nearly ready to order one until she looked again at the picture of Musk holding the device. “You could tell it was photoshopped,” she said.
What the experts say
Aaron Ismail of the Central Alabama Electric Cooperative told WCPO that such devices change names often. He was blunt about the idea. “If there was indeed a device that you could just plug in and reduce your power bill, we would be all over it,” he said. He also pointed to a detail in the pitch: savings supposedly take several months to appear, which happens to be after the return window has closed.
The same caution comes from Germany, where the Federal Network Agency and the Austrian institute ÖIAT warned about similar “power saving boxes.” Stiftung Warentest reported that Klaus Müller, president of the agency, said the savings from such gadgets are questionable on the current state of technology. The Austrian institute went further and called them fraud. Their makers claim cuts of up to 90 percent.
Reviews that are hard to trust
Positive Facebook comments are plentiful, such as one that reads “I HAVE THESE!! LOVE LOVE THEM MY ELECTRIC BILL KEEPS GOING DOW.” In a rough test, Green Matters found many of the commenting profiles showed signs of being fake, using criteria suggested by McAfee. With so many names for one product, honest assessments are also hard to find.
MalwareTips advises anyone who has paid to call their bank, tell the authorities and spread the word to others. Green Matters lists identity theft and fire risk among the dangers, besides the lack of any real savings.
What does help, Ismail said, is turning off lights and appliances when they are not in use, asking the electric company about an energy audit, and sealing cracks around windows and outlets.
Sources
- Is Elon Musk Behind Energy-Saving Device Scam? Investigating StopWatt – Green Matters
- Is Elon Musk really selling a home energy-saving device? – WCPO
- Energie sparen: Die Stromsparbox ist nutzlos – Stiftung Warentest
