Technology scams are a common type that fraudsters utilize, especially in the digital age. It’s simple to doctor images or videos using a computer. At times, they look so life-like it’s difficult to believe they’re actually digitally constructed. That’s put some wind in the sails of scammers, who use their fake products to lure investors.
Omri Shafran is quite possibly one of those people. He’s the CEO of Texas Medical Technology, a firm that’s one of Houston’s top PPE suppliers. However, that doesn’t seem to be enough for Shafran and his peers, as we’ll see soon. The problems we’re talking about regard iNitrile, a surgical glove donning machine. Let’s look at the machine and what makes it so controversial.
Patent Theft
The first contentious point surrounding iNitrile is the fact that Shafran likely stole its patent from another company. There are numerous signs that point to that, starting from TexasTec Health, another company where Shafran is a higher-up. Until recently, the company was advertising iNitrile on its landing page but using a different image from all other promotional material. The picture it was using was of the original machine, developed by an entirely different company. Here’s a picture we took before it was removed:
We talked to the company that developed the original machine and it turns out they met with Shafran in 2020. They refused to cooperate with him, deeming him as too questionable. That’s likely when the theft occurred, and Shafran got his hands on it. The firm is currently taking legal action against Shafran, which is why we can’t disclose its name.
No Actual Product
Here’s an image of what iNitrile looks like:
And here are the promotional videos it published:
In both cases, you can see similar things; it looks fake and computer-generated. In the second video, there is an actual product, but it doesn’t seem to be working. The video cuts off every time the demonstrator does anything, meaning all the things the machine “does” could have easily been falsified. That means the machine could very well be a plastic box. Note that the machine is allegedly far into its development, at the third-gen prototype stage.
We talked to an investigator whose statement prompts further worries regarding the existence of iNitrile. They were inside Texas Medical Technology’s factory, which allegedly employs around 300 people. Not only was the actual employee number between 30 and 50, but it turns out not to be a factory at all. It’s a PPE packaging and shipping facility without any production at hand.
The investigator never saw any trace of an assembly line or any sort of production. There was no trace of a single iNitrile machine or any of its parts. That, along with the lower than reported worker number and worse facility state, makes us believe that the company can’t produce iNitrile. That’s provided that it had any intention to in the first place.
Investor-bait scam products are abundant out there. We recommend staying away from projects led or including anyone that’s been a part of a scam in the past. You can add Shafran, as well as his peers, Jad Shraim and Dimitri Menin, to that list.
