South African Businessman, Avrom Lasarow has reached a settlement with the FTC over a suite of apps that claimed to be able to help diagnose whether moles on the skin are cancerous or not. The FTC claims that the claims made when marketing or promoting the app were false or unsubstantiated.
In the settlement, Lasarow has agreed to be barred from creating further deceptive health claims about this or any other product he is selling. His company, L Health, sold the suite of apps called “Mole Detective” for $4.99 in both the Apple and the Google app stores. In addition to being banned from this type of marketing, he was also fined $58,623.42. This part of the judgement, however, is suspended due to Lasarow’s inability to pay.
This inability to pay is curious, since his Wikipedia page and interviews claim he’s quite wealthy.
Jessica Rich, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said, “We havne’t found any scientific evidence that Mole Detective can accurately access melanoma risk. If you’re concerned that a mole may be cancerous, please see a health professional.”
Mole Detective was developed and markted by Kristi Kimball through her company, New Consumer Solutions up until August of 2012 when Lasarow and his company took over the marketing of the app while also adding in derivative apps as part of the full suite.
Kimball and her company were also to be named in the original suit from the FTC, but that piece of the case was settled before the suit was actually filed.
Lasarow said that his decision to settle this case was driven strictly by the cost of potential litigation with the FTC and in other countries and he made no admissions of any wrongdoing.
