Earlier this year, a USB stick with wild claims went viral and now trading standards are investigating alongside the City of London Police’s Action Fraud Squad. The company behind selling the USB sticks(5GBioShield), claim that it protects the user from the alleged, unproven negative affects that conspiracy theorists claim 5G causes.
London Trading Standards’ operation director told the BBC that they “consider it to be a scam”. They are reportedly attempting to get a court order to take down the company’s website selling the USB sticks. However, at this time they are still available on the website for £283, lowered from the original £339. The Trading Standards operations director went on to say that “People who are vulnerable need protection from this kind of unscrupulous trading”.
Even though the alleged negative health effects of 5G mobile networks have been dismissed by both mainstream scientists and regulators, a large number of scare mongers have taken to social media in order to insight the destruction of 5G towers across the UK. Mobile network engineers specialising in 5G have even been receiving death threats.
The 5GBioShield website describes it as a USB key that ‘provides protection for your home and family, thanks to the wearable holographic nano-layer catalyser, which can be worn or placed near to a smartphone or any other electrical, radiation or EMF emitting device.’.
The device gained considerable traction on social media after a member of the 5G Advisory Committee for Glastonbury Town Council recommended it, saying “We use this device and find it helpful” and linked to the products website. The recommendation was made in the town councils report on 5G and has since been removed.
The 5GBioShield website claims that it protects users “Through a process of quantum oscillation the 5GBioShield USB Key balances and reharmonizes the disturbing frequencies arising from the electric fog induced by devices, such as laptops, cordless phones, Wi-Fi, tablets, etc.”. However, teardowns of the device have reported that it’s simply a 128MB USB stick with a small black sticker.