Company reported to police for test mark fraud
CleanFriend ApS is reported to have created a false test site where its own products were presented as winners of independent studies.
Company reported to police for test mark fraud
A newly established firm from the capital region has been reported to the authorities for presenting its own products as winners of neutral consumer studies.
CleanFriend ApS, which trades in cleaning equipment and similar items, established a website where the company's products topped rankings of alleged product tests. However, it was the seller itself that stood behind both the tests and the site, without this being made clearly apparent to the ordinary reader.
The Consumer Ombudsman has now referred the case to the police with allegations of misleading marketing and hidden advertising. The office's head, Torben Jensen, emphasises that it is prohibited to make commercial messages resemble impartial recommendations.
According to the report, the graphics on the portal in question were furthermore designed in such a way that they could be confused with the official symbols of Forbrugerrådet Tænk. This resulted in an increased risk that customers mistook the source as being independent.
Following the authorities' intervention, the company removed the portal and revised its other communications. The company was established in mid-2024 and achieved a positive result of nearly 2.3 million kroner in the first accounting period.
Sources: Ekstra Bladet, DR
Source: Ekstra Bladet