The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Razer to issue over $1.1 million in full refunds for its Razer Zephyr facemasks after alleging the PC gaming accessory company falsely billed its futuristic “wearable air purifier” as equivalent to N95-grade respirators. In truth, the FTC says Zephyr’s makers never even submitted their product for testing to either the FDA or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health .
Razer consulted with a Singapore-based quality assurance company during Zephyr’s development, and in emails wrote they intended to market the wearable as “N95 grade.” Subsequent reviews showed Razer’s design only achieved around 83 percent particulate filtration efficiency while its fans were off, with just a three percent improvement with the fans enabled.