Home Business “Breathometer” Marketers Settle FTC Charges

“Breathometer” Marketers Settle FTC Charges

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Photo: Shark Tank Blog

“Hey, there’s an App for that!” May be a popular advertising phrase, but when it comes to some health apps, the FTC says NO THERE AREN’T. The makers of a Breathalyzer app to tell you when you’re too drunk to drive were just busted by the FTC. It alleges they made claims about how their app worked they couldn’t support scientifically. It was marketed on Amazon, Best Buy and Brookstone according to the Federal Complaint. The Feds have demanded refunds to customers and it looks like the business will do it. I’ll drink to that! Just not too much and NOT before driving!

In 2013, Charles Michael Yim, founder and CEO of Breathometer appeared on the hit ABC show “Shark Tank.” By the end of the segment, Yim had become the first entrepreneur to get all five sharks to join together in backing his product. Yim raised $1-million….4 times what he originally asked requested.

Per the FTC:

According to the FTC’s complaint, promoters obtained initial financing for their breathalyzer product by successfully pitching it to the investors on the television show “Shark Tank.” The defendants sold two versions of the Breathometer – Original and Breeze. Ads for both products claimed that their accuracy was proven by “government-lab grade testing.”

Ads for Breeze further claimed that it was a “law-enforcement grade product.”

In truth, neither Original nor Breeze were adequately tested for accuracy, the FTC alleged. Further, the FTC charged that the defendants were aware that Breeze regularly understated BAC levels. Nonetheless, they allegedly failed to notify users of these problems and continued their deceptive advertising.

As detailed in the complaint, Breathometer Original is a small device that attaches to a smartphone through the audio jack. Sold on the defendants’ website, as well as through other online retailers such as Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, and Brookstone, Original typically retailed for $49.99.

Breeze is a small Bluetooth-enabled device, sold through the same retailers, typically for $99.99.

To use either device, consumers would download the free Breathometer app to their phone and blow into the device. Within five seconds, a purported BAC level would be displayed on the consumer’s phone.”

Here’s the FTC statement on the agreement

Al Sunshine is a South Florida-based Broadcast and Digital Journalist whose career has spanned more than 40 years at the local and national levels. His award-winning investigations have triggered more than a dozen state and local consumer protection laws and his work’s been cited in Congressional Testimony before the U-S House of Representatives. He is best known for his “Shame On You” features for CBS Miami which sought to expose businesses, agencies and individuals defrauding or deceiving consumers, as well as endangering the safety and welfare of the general public. In 2013 Al retired from CBS Miami to set up his own Digital News Business, “Sunshine News, LLC” and Al continues to blog for the Radio, Television, Digital News Association, sponsors of the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Awards”. An avid environmentalist, Al is one of the founding members of the “Miami Pine Rocklands Coalition”. The Florida Non-Profit is fighting to save and restore the last 2% of Pine Rocklands found only in South Florida and nowhere else in the continental United States. Al was recently elected its President.