No ‘Secrets,’ Just Scams

Rob Durham had a secret — or at least he thought he did.

Even as the prices on gasoline station signs had begun to rise, Durham, a real estate agent and budding entrepreneur in suburban Chicago, received an e-mail from a friend telling him about a “top-secret gas pill” that could significantly boost fuel efficiency while cutting emissions.

“The more I saw, the more I believed in it,” said Durham, 39, who joined his friend and became a distributor. He still says the product works.

Authorities say the pill wasn’t just “top-secret,” it was also bogus. The additive is the equivalent of a mothball, according to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, and federal authorities say it is one of scores of products pushed by a cottage industry preying on consumer angst over $3-a-gallon gas prices.

With drivers yearning for alternatives, manufacturers of products claiming to boost mileage are offering up solutions — in the form of pills, powders, liquid additives and mechanical devices. Among them are magnets attached to the fuel line that “realign” fuel molecules and “vortex generators” that create mini tornadoes inside the combustion chamber of the engine.

Washington Post