Mom finds fake ad claiming entire family died of coronavirus after going to church

A false and misleading ad that appeared on Facebook “borrowed” a family’s holiday photo to claim that they had all died of COVID-19, using the phony emotional story to pitch face masks.

Where did the ad claim the family had been fatally infected, to fit perfectly with the U.S media narrative?

Church, of course.

Sara Ancich of Los Angeles said the professional photo of her family from eight years ago showed up in a Facebook ad for FilterMax face masks. The ad claimed she and her entire family had died, except for the youngest son, after contracting COVID-19 at a church service.

“Who would have the audacity to clearly not know a family and type that they had died?” Ancich said. “It’s on the forefront of everybody’s mind in the news and everything, and how quickly it is taking lives. It could so clearly be true to people.”

The FilterMax ad claimed that it’s approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but the FDA says that’s not true.

The outrageous ad features video of a teen with a blurred face, portrayed as the surviving member of the Ancich family.

“I am curious about the boy in the video, too. Where’s he in this? Does he know that he’s out there?” Ancich said.

Over several days Ancich was bombarded with Facebook messages from alarmed family and friends.

Ancich says she tried reporting the video to Facebook, but that it kept appearing in her feed. She says she hasn’t posted the photo on social media in years, but a reverse image search on Google reveals the photo is on several Pinterest boards for examples of family photos.

“It was upsetting. It’s violating,” she said. “I don’t know how I could have prevented this or I would have.”