Blockchain entrepreneur peddles €160 face masks on Facebook coronavirus group

The administrator of a Maltese Facebook group sharing updates on the COVID-19 coronavirus influenza, has been accused of ruthlessly exploiting people by promoting the sale of face masks at €160 for a pack of five.

William Hawk – whose name on LinkedIn is Alexander Bodrovich – set up the CoronaVirus Malta EU - Updates (William Hawk) group on Facebook on 30 January, in which Hawk poses as a conspiracy theorist taking on mainstream medical opinion on the coronavirus flu.

But critics on Facebook have accused Hawk of peddling medical claims from questionable sources, and attempting to profit from gullible individuals.

Yesterday Hawk claimed health officials on Friday night’s edition of Xarabank were lying about claims that the COVID-19 virus cannot spread if the infected person doesn’t show any symptoms. “Over the last months, we have witnessed many cases of asymptomatic spreaders, and some were even super-spreaders… I don’t know for how much longer they plan on keeping this misinformation campaign running, but people – please be careful,” Hawk said, accusing his critics of being “hired trolls”.

He previously claimed “tens of millions must be infected by now, given the estimate rate of spread.”

Hawk is also the admin of two other groups called Preppers Malta EU and Pandemic Preppers Malta EU, created this week, the latter formerly called ‘Jobs in Europe’.

“As with other groups on Facebook, this has turned into an echo chamber for misinformation regarding coronavirus. Genuinely concerned people join the group for information but are met with a barrage of misleading (and sometimes fake) statistics that only exacerbate their fears,” said one Facebook user who wrote an excoriating post on Hawk. “Is this what led to Tuesday’s rush on the supermarkets? One can only speculate.”

Hawk has since then posted the link to the website www.viruscontrol.eu on his Facebook groups, where he sells expensive facemasks to be paid only with “cash on delivery”. The website was registered on 22 February.

He also sells Russian military gas masks on Maltapark.com.

On his LinkedIn profile, ‘Hawk’ or Alexander Bodrovich says he is the founder of V Messenger, a blockchain messenger service. He also claims to be a fundraiser for the Lift Us Up NGO, which has volunteers in Nepal and the Philippines who work with charities there.