Ads for scooters on Facebook

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ATLANTA — An 11Alive viewer saw what she thought were too good to be true deals on electric scooters and asked our Verify team to check it out.

Are Facebook ads for $39 electric scooters designed for senior citizens legitimate?

No, $39 for an electric scooter is not in line with the cost you’ll find at reputable retailers.

Carolyn Reese sometimes uses a wheelchair to get around but wants something lighter. Her search for an electric scooter led her to devices costing hundreds, even thousands of dollars, until she turned to Facebook. There, she found multiple ads claiming she could buy a scooter for $39.

“I didn’t see any for under a thousand for my needs and then I started seeing all these ads for $39,” Reese said.

Some of the ads make it appear that $39 scooters are sale items from well known stores. We reached out to Costco about the Facebook ad that includes their logo.

The answer—“We do not advertise.”

Links on the Facebook ad have nothing to do with Costco.

An internet search led us to numerous legitimate companies selling lightweight scooters for anywhere from $500 to $3,000.

Friends of Disabled Adults and Children is a non-profit in Tucker that refurbishes donated items. There, scooters are provided to families in need, typically for no more than the cost of replacing the battery.

However Chris Brand, president of FODAC, said that process alone is more than $39

“Those batteries cost about $140,” Brand explained. “If you had a gently used one you had to buy new wheels for, or new tiller or electronic parts for, those all individually cost very very high.”

The FTC wouldn’t address the scooter ads directly, but told us “online advertising must tell the truth and not mislead consumers.”

The Facebook ads Carolyn Reese is seeing are likely too good to be true and at best misleading.