Tempted by those adverts for electric heaters that claim to slash 90% off your bills? You’ll want to read this first

For those looking for a revolutionary solution to the perennial problem of heating your home for less as winter approaches, this is an ad designed to warm your heart.

A British student has designed an electric heater that uses the Joule-Thomson effect (a theory in physics) and a ‘continuous heating cycle’ to ‘heat space at 90 per cent less cost than traditional heating methods’.

If this sounds too good to be true, that’s because unfortunately there is a lot of hot weather. The claim appears to have ‘rewritten the laws of physics’, according to one Cambridge professor.

To further complicate the issue, some of these miracle heaters popping up on social media posts have been labeled unsafe by the UK charity Electrical Safety First.

Now a Money Mail investigation has uncovered evidence of a flood of ads peddling such false claims on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Messenger.

The ads promote cheap conventional plug-in electric heaters made in China using dishonest marketing, backed by a global network of shady companies.

In many cases, buyers complained that they were charged for two or three heaters when they only ordered one and were unable to return the items.

> Read more: This fixed energy tariff is the cheapest from a major supplier

Remarkably, Money Mail has uncovered evidence linking several companies to Lithuanian businessmen based in the UK who can operate with impunity.

Our research comes as the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) prepares to issue a formal warning this week to make people think twice before committing to a purchase.

ASA compliance manager Nick Hudson says: ‘With the weather getting colder and living costs becoming a big issue, we want people to know they need to be careful with these electric heaters. They make claims that don’t add up.

‘We need wider education among consumers so they know they need to investigate claims about these products.’

The ASA statistics make depressing reading considering 2,054 of the 2,216 ads identified for 2024-25 using the AI ​​monitoring system were problematic.

Although 285 different advertisers were identified, only ten were responsible for nearly 60 percent of the ads identified as problematic. And just two advertisers were responsible for nearly 25 percent of the ads: both were located in Romania.

But we discovered a global network of companies touching Lithuania, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Spain, the USA and the UK.

The ASA first became aware of these ads in 2022, as the UK was gripped by a cost of living crisis and people were trying to find solutions to rising heating bills.

Ban: In 2023, the Advertising Standards Authority issued a ruling against four firms for misleadingly implying they were saving money on plug-in mini heaters

In 2023, it introduced rulings against four Dutch, Hong Kong and Spanish firms that misleadingly implied they provided cheap heating and saved money because of their plug-in mini heaters.

These were Ecomm Movadgency, which sells the Heater Pro X; Keilini, with its Keilini Portable Heater; Label Products promoting InstaHeat; and Ecom7 sells Heater Pro X, trading as Instacool. Keilini and InstaHeat were selected by Electrical Safety First.

ASA’s Hudson acknowledged authorities were facing a ‘whack-a-mole’ situation where one miracle product disappears and is replaced by another.

One of the companies uncovered by Money Mail is Navathermo, which promoted itself using an ad on YouTube that made a number of incredible claims.

This uses Jason’s backdrop of how a ‘clever student from the UK at the University of London’ created a revolutionary new heater ‘using a continuous heating cycle’ that could heat a house in 90 seconds.

Consumers are told that by using the ‘Joule-Thomson effect’ they can ‘heat any space at 90 per cent less cost than traditional heating methods’.

But Keith Taber, Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge, calls the cost claims ‘a simple lie’ and ‘a lie that appears to have rewritten the laws of physics’.

Professor Taber notes that consumers who are directed to product web pages will find themselves missing out on many of the ‘more obvious fraudulent claims’.

He said of the advert on YouTube: ‘The video breaches UK law and YouTube should have carried out due diligence before accepting advertising money for such deliberately dishonest films.’

Navathermo shares nearly identical websites and identical claims to two other electric heaters (BlumeHeat and WellHeater), all registered to companies in Lithuania.

What makes things even more complicated is that they all display US customer service numbers, despite there being no obvious connection to the country.

UK WellHeater consumer Michael Nixon says on Trustpilot: ‘These are poor quality! I plugged one in and within two minutes it started smelling burning and it was VERY hot.’

Many complained that they were charged for multiple items, that they couldn’t return them because customer service wasn’t available, that they couldn’t get a refund, and that the heaters were dangerous.

This echoes the warning from Electrical Safety First, which tested Keilini, InstaHeat and HeatPal. All three ‘posed a serious risk of electric shock due to the mains plugs not meeting UK safety standards’.

Lesley Rudd, the group’s chief executive, said: ‘It is insensitive for these dealers to launch dangerous products that they know will be sought after by struggling households during the energy crisis.

‘Consumers pay their hard-earned money and in return they receive a product that puts their safety at risk.’

WellHeater is registered with UAB Rara Digital, a Lithuanian company owned by a businessman named Domas Vaicius, who is shown on UK company records to be resident in the UK.

Another Lithuanian company, Uniqor, is the registered owner of Navathermo. Lithuanian company records show that Uniqor is owned by Oskaras Brazaitis.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, declined Money Mail’s invitation to comment but said it does not allow content that attempts to sell hazardous materials and supplies.

It said people can report ads and posts that are believed to violate its policies.