If you gave in to your gamer brain and bought an N95 mask from Razer, a company best known for computer keyboards and mice, then you may be entitled to compensation—well, at least a refund. The Federal Trade Commission announced on Monday that it reached a settlement with the gaming hardware company to set aside $1 million to reimburse people who bought the Razer Zephyr, a short-lived “N95” mask that the company sold during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the terms of the agreement, the FTC SAYS it will send checks and PayPal payments with full refunds to the 6,764 consumers who purchased the mask. According to the agency, consumers who purchased a Zephyr have 90 days to cash their check upon receipt or 30 days to receive their PayPal payment. The FTC will issue charges based on records received from Razer and will not require consumers to file a claim.
Payment represents the end of a surprisingly perfect saga that saw the FTC crackdown on Razer for falsely selling its Zephyr masks. The company first began offering the masks in 2021, claiming that the product is “FDA Registered and lab tested for 99 percent BFE (Bacteria Filtration Efficiency)” and offers “greater protection compared to standard disposable / cloth mask” thanks to its “replaceable. N95 grade filters for maximum protection.
Going back, not so much. According to the FTC’s investigation, Razer never submitted the Zephyr masks to the FDA or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for testing, and they were never certified N95 grade. Instead, the company conducted tests through a third-party contractor, but even the results showed that the masks fell. To qualify as N95 grade, the mask must achieve 95% or greater particulate filtration efficiency. Third-party tests have seen the Zephyr max out at 86.3% in an area with fans, and “always tested lower.”
Even knowing this, Razer decided to market the mask as N95 anyway, which is a pretty major no-no. The company sold the masks for several months spanning the back half of 2021 and the start of 2022, charging $100 a pop before pulling the product as it began testing.
While the company notified buyers after the fact that the Zephyr “is not a medical device or certified as an N95 mask,” it did not inform buyers that refunds would be available. As a result, the FTC found that less than 6% of Zephyr purchases got their money back—it set out to correct this settlement. Better late than never.