In early August 2024, online scammers promoted a small, night light-sized product named Pro Power Save alongside fake reviews naming tech entrepreneur and $44 billion Twitter buyer Elon Musk, reality TV host Joanna Gaines and environmental activist Greta Thunberg. Specifically, the Pro Power Save scam claimed Musk once said that the device will slash consumers’ electricity bills by 90 percent. Scammers also listed the same supposed “electricity saving box” or “spike buster” product under other names, such as the slightly different Pro Power Saver, Stop Watt, eSaver Watt, eWatt Saver and others.
In this article, I will provide my review of the product and the Pro Power Save scam. In the last year, I personally tested several of the products and arrived at an expected conclusion: It’s a scam. The device has no internal parts that might help consumers reduce their electricity bills. It does nothing other than light up in the color green.
My name is Jordan Liles. This page, JordanLiles.com, is my personal website where I publish reporting in addition to my daily work as a Senior Reporter with Snopes.com. I research scams and have slowly but surely become knowledgeable of how many of the misleading or fraudulent online schemes operate.
In this story, I will break down everything I know about this Pro Power Save scam, providing a level of detail that should help to better inform readers of the dangers of falling for this sort of a scam. Mainly, think of it this way: If a device truly could slash utility bills by 90 percent, everyone would be talking about it. The product would be found everywhere. Online publishers big and small would report about the matter. If it worked, the device would not only be talked about in Facebook ads and sketchy online articles. Even if readers want to believe “Big Energy” would force publishers to hide the supposed successful nature of the product, they would have to admit that wouldn’t be the case for small, independent blogs.
If an online offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.
The Pro Power Save Scam Begins in Ads
On Aug. 7, 2024, I received a right-column Facebook ad on my laptop displaying a picture generated by artificial-intelligence (AI). The fake image showed Elon Musk and Joanna Gaines both holding the Pro Power Save scam “electricity saving box” product. The ad hinted the pair provided positive reviews or endorsements of Pro Power Save. To be clear, no celebrities or famous people of any kind ever endorsed this product or any other similar “electricity saving box” devices.
On Nov. 29, 2023, I published a YouTube video about this scam involving an “electricity saving box” and the AI picture of Musk and Gaines. That past scam falsely claimed in its Facebook ad that Musk just emerged from a legal battle involving the device. The ad read as follows:
Elon Musk has finally emerged victorious in the legal battle against the power company! This product will save you 90% on your electricity bills, alleviating worries for many people and preventing such tragic incidents from happening again. This is Elon Musk and Joanna Gaines’s noble aspiration to benefit humanity and fulfill the common desire for a better life!
In other words, Meta, the parent company for Facebook and Instagram, accepted money from scammers and allows the Pro Power Save scam and thousands of other scam ads to display to users, despite what their public relations employees and policy documentation might say publicly about the supposed seriousness of their task regarding taking on scams and reviewing ads.
According to The Associated Press, Meta regularly reports to investors on a quarterly basis revenue numbers in the tens of billions of dollars. However, the company apparently chooses to not invest some of that money in hiring credible moderators to review 100 percent of ads before they display to users. Not credibly and manually reviewing all ads allows the company to accept more money for ads they might otherwise reject.
The Fake Pro Power Save Review Website
Upon clicking on the Facebook ad in August, the website musksave.com loaded on my laptop. Scammers designed the website to misleadingly resemble the layout and colors of the Fox News Digital website.
An article on the website displayed the headline, “Elon Musk and Greta Thunberg, Swedish Eco-Girl joined forces to call on everyone to conserve energy, electricity, and protect the environment!” The scam article showed a fake picture combining real photos of Musk and Thunberg, including adding a Pro Power Save scam product in Musk’s hand.
The subheading of the article mentioned Fox News and claimed, “Fox News – It’s no secret that residents in overpay for electricity because the power companies have a monopoly over them. This genius new invention will save you up to thousands of dollars a year off your electric bill.”
The beginning of the fictional and misleading story first falsely claimed to show a picture of a consumer’s bill dropping from $251 to $15. The story began:
Elon Musk, the genius CEO behind solar power giant Tesla has been the talk of the town lately. His most recent controversy is a genius electricity saving invention for those who can’t afford fancy, expensive solar panels. The electric power companies are furious and want Elon’s money saving invention banned before the American public can take full advantage of the savings.
He goes on to say “The big power companies are scamming you. Yes, that’s right. Believe it or not, they have been using a secret to cheat you every time you run your lights, dishwasher, blender, vacuum and anything else that draws power. This is why your power bill is so expensive every month and keeps rising with some residents paying as much as $500 a month in electric bills. Every American can slash their electricity bill by 90% using this revolutionary technology. You’re welcome, America.”
How bad is this little known scam? A new study reports that together Americans overpay up to $27.6 billion dollars a year on their electric bill due to this!
The Lie About ‘Tesla Employee’ Named ‘Dorothy Smith’
The Pro Power Save scam article promoting its fake review then told a false story about a supposed “Tesla employee” named “Dorothy Smith” who died after being unable to afford her utility bill.
The story said, “But for Elon Musk, this was more than just an invention to fight back against the greedy electric companies. When tragedy struck the Tesla factory, he knew he had to take action. Dorothy Smith was a 64-year-old Tesla employee who died of a heat stroke after falling behind on her electric bills and her service was shut off in the middle of a record breaking heat wave. Her youngest daughter came to check up on her after many unanswered phone calls and tragically found Dorothy lifeless on the couch with her husband.”
Several paragraphs later, the false article said the woman’s purported death inspired Musk to create the Pro Power Save “electricity saving box” in her honor. The story also wrongly claimed Musk’s plans for the device came from none other than the mind of Nikola Tesla.
The story continued, “Seeing just how devastating electricity prices are on the average American’s wallet, and witnessing his own employee, Dorothy Smith pass away tragically, Elon Musk set out to find his old drawing plans for an electricity saver invention he had made as a young genius in South Africa. The original drawing was based on a concept by his idol, legendary inventor, electrical and mechanical engineer and visionary, Nikola Tesla.”
The Misleading Dorothy Smith Photo
The Pro Power Save scam article featured a photo of two elderly people with the headline, “Tesla Employee Dies of Heat Stroke at Home.” However, a reverse-image search for the picture led me to the truth.
On Aug. 10, 2022, the Telegraph Herald website (archived) published a story with the same photo, reporting the couple’s real names and story. The article read, “James E. ‘Jim’ Mueller, 76, and Donna J. Mueller, 75, of Janesville, Wisconsin, passed away Thursday Aug. 4 and Friday, August 5, 2022, in Lafayette Park, Washington D.C. as a result of an unfortunate lightning strike.”
In other words, scammers misused the picture of a couple who tragically died, all in an attempt to make money based on lies and deception.
The Hilarious Way Pro Power Save Claims It Works
The scam article then described how the Pro Power Save “electricity saving box” supposedly works. Brace yourselves for an elite level of lying:
Pro Power Save is a small, compact, affordable, and easy-to-use plug-in device that stops unnecessary power from entering the electrical cables in your home and lowers your consumption instantly. You just plug it in and let this smart device work it’s magic. It’s easy to connect, simply plug into the outlet closest to your breaker box. That is all you need to do, once plugged in the green LED indicates it is powered on and working.
The fact is, all appliances draw more power than they need to run, due to inefficiencies and noise on the sine wave created by the electric companies to overcharge customers and scam them. Power companies take advantage of this situation, and overcharge their customers for it. Due to their monopoly, the government is unwilling to step in and address this situation.
The Pro Power Save reduces this noise, thereby decreasing the amount of electricity used. So none is wasted. It doesn’t change the meter reading, or steal power from anywhere else, it simply uses the energy more efficiently, so less is needed.
Within just 24 hours, it makes more efficient use of the total energy draw resulting in energy savings. Your next power bill should be significantly lower as it becomes accustomed to the energy use in your home and stops excess electricity from entering the electric cables.
To be clear, home appliances and other devices do not feature the capability to receive some sort of signals or communications in order to lower their energy consumption. Unfortunately, we live in reality and not a fantasy world.
The Final Step: the Product-Purchase Page
The website BuyProPowerSave.com was the last page following the Facebook ad and scam article.
The page read, “Stop wasting money on dirty, unstable electricity.” It claimed the Pro Power Save scam product inside of its little “electricity saving box” could “quickly and easily stabilize your home’s electric current,” “reduce harmful dirty electricity from your home” and “protect and prolong the life of your appliances and electronics.” All of the claims promoted by the website were false.
One Pro Power Save review showing a fake person’s face generated by AI displayed the fake name “Brenda Shearer” and read, “If you’re skeptical, I feel sorry for you. Pro Power Save has really made something special here. I’m not entirely sure how it works, but the savings are REAL!”
The product-purchase website displayed logos for Fox News, Forbes, Popular Electronics and Discover, even though none of those publications ever published anything favorable about the product.
The website featured a “References” page that read, “Coming soon,” which was not a great sign of legitimacy.
The Hilarious Instruction Manual for the Pro Power Save Scam
The FAQ page on the BuyProPowerSave.com website proudly boasted, “This is an American-owned business that doesn’t believe it should take 45 days to receive your product from China.”
However, one look at the instruction manual might lead consumers to think differently.
The manual shows signs of poor translations, likely from Chinese to English. First off, the image of the product in the manual displays the words, “The result is the best.” The text of the manual, however, is a whole different beast.
The “production introduction” in the manual begins as follows, and bear in mind I did not make any corrections to grammar, spacing or punctuation:
Our honorable customers, we are very grateful to you for your buying and using the electricity-saved box. We are sure our product will bring many conveniences and comfort to your life. Electric power is an essential part of our modern life. We can not tolerate the electric power resources being wasted without results from the economical beginning of a little after a period of time, the expenditure lesson obviously.
The “guide to use” portion of the manual then advises consumers, “Plug the electricity saved box in to any sockets at home. According to the electric appliances quantity and loading carry can use one or several stanzas electric appliances, can immediately attain the electricity-saved effect. Simple operation, no need maintenance, no need pay attention. After installing, however develop the effect.”
I do not recommend using electric devices of any kind if the instructions read like this. Such devices could be a shock hazard to adults, children and pets.
My Review and the Truth About the Pro Power Save Scam
In late 2023, I personally tested several Pro Power Save products. I also noted the insides of the supposed “electricity saving boxes” contained nothing other than the ability for the device to light up green. The product does not contain any special computer chips or other technology that might allow it to communicate with your home appliances. Further, even if the product miraculously arrived equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a phone line, an ethernet port, a string with soup cans on either end and other communicative technology, those capabilities still wouldn’t be receivable by home appliances.
Pro Power Save and any other small “electricity saving box” devices that claim to harness an ability to help your home appliances use less energy are all scams. Further, these very same products are available on Amazon.com, Temu.com and other websites for very little cost. In other words, to tell a joke, you can get scammed out of your money for even less by buying from those websites.
Basically, what scammers have done is they’ve bought up hundreds or thousands of these cheap and generic “electricity saving boxes.” It’s possible one or more companies in China mass produce the boxes. The scammers then rebrand the product with an interesting name, like Pro Power Save. Finally, they jack up the price from $5-10 to somewhere around $50, enabling them to profit based on reselling a cheap product with scam claims.
Genuine Ways to Lower Your Energy Bills
Setting aside the scam nature of the Pro Power Save product and all of the fake reviews out there claiming Elon Musk and other famous people endorsed it, readers can retain some hope in that some ways exist to save money on home utility bills.
My first recommendation is to call your electricity company or visit their website. Ask if they have different rate plans in which consumers can enroll. Some plans might save more money than others.
NerdWallet.com recommends 13 ways to reduce your electric bill. The best tip, in my opinion, says to ask your electricity company if they conduct energy audits. The article says, “If you can, start with a visit from the pros. Utility providers will often conduct a home energy audit, sometimes for free, and can identify ways to reduce your energy usage. An audit can help you figure out if faulty seals on windows and doors or leaky ductwork, among other things, are draining energy from your home. You’ll also get recommendations for repairs and efficient fixtures. Check with your local power company for details on how to schedule an audit.”
The article continues, telling readers to adjust their refrigerator and freezer temperatures, take shorter showers, switch to LED lighting and install dimmer switches, among other tips.
BBB’s Advice on Safeguarding Against Scams
The U.S. Better Business Bureau previously published an article detailing how consumers should “think twice before buying from these social media ads.”
First, the BBB says to do your research. “Before making a purchase, quickly search for the business in question. Do they have valid contact information? Don’t be fooled by professional photography or consumer reviews on their website. These can be lifted from other sites.”
Second, the article advises to look for previous complaints from other consumers. “Do a Google search of the business name followed by ‘complaints,’ ‘reviews’ or ‘scam,’ or search BBB.org and see what pops up. If you find this business has cheated other people, steer clear.”
Third, perhaps not related to this scam but still good advice is the idea of using good judgement. “Many con artists play on consumers’ desire to help those in need. Remember this and use your head, not just your heart, when supporting charitable causes.”
The Pro Power Save scam doesn’t involve charitable causes but does have something to do with helping those in need, specifically with utility bill costs. For example, recall the fake story of the “Tesla employee” named Dorothy Smith. That false story served as the tearjerker in the scam as a way of getting at consumers’ emotions to try to entice them to make a purchase. Other claims about how interests associated with “Big Energy” don’t want you to know about the product were also false and meant to play on your emotions.
Parting Thoughts
Unfortunately, I really don’t see this Pro Power Save scam for an “electricity saving box” going away anytime soon. This specific scam has been around for a number of years, always with fake reviews and usually featuring Musk’s image and likeness. Scammers keep changing the product’s name, apparently for marketing purposes, while hoping that no one notices.
In the meantime, my best advice is to never buy anything from Facebook or Instagram ads, even if the seller claims the products come from a trustworthy brand. Scammers often impersonate well-known name brands in social media ads, meaning the ads are not to be trusted.
Also, again, always remember that if an online offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Well written man! I really wanted this to be true but I was wondering about it. Thanks for this man! God Bless!