Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Lorex Corporation, a Canada-based firm. The company’s website displays a variety of security cameras, such as a doorbell camera, a lightbulb camera, and even a camera mounted to a floodlight.
The lawsuit alleges Lorex sells its cameras to unsuspecting American customers who are unaware of Lorex’s ties to a second corporation, Dahau Technology. Duhau is closely tied to the Chinese Communist Party, and to China’s military, which is why it was designated as a “Chinese military company” by the Pentagon in 2021.
Two other U.S. states, Nebraska and Texas, have also filed consumer protection lawsuits against Lorex.
In an interview on American Family Radio, Attorney General Hanaway called Lorex a “pretty talented fraudster” for hiding its Duhau-made products after Duhau, under pressure from the U.S. designation, supposedly sold Lorex in 2022.
“They appeared to divide themselves but, in point of fact, the components are still coming from Dauha,” Hanaway told show host Jenna Ellis.
On its own Lorex website, a telling admission noticed by American Family News is the statement that Lorex products are “designed for consumer and business use only and not for US federal governments, federally-funded projects or contractors subject to NDAA.”
NDAA refers to the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual U.S. military bill. So the Lorex statement is an admission its products are banned for use by the federal government and its numerous contractors.
Meanwhile, the Lorex website boasts its cameras are used by “industry leaders” in business including Hilton-owned hotels, restaurants such as Little Caesars and Subway, and automakers Toyota and Honda.
Regarding the surveillance fears, the attorney general said an inspection of camera components confirmed a high-tech “back door” through which Lorex cameras can stream right to Dauha.
China, an authoritarian state infamous for watching its own population, is also obsessed with collecting intelligence on its adversary, the United States. That is why everything from farmland located near military bases and Chinese-manufactured cars, to foreign students from mainland China, are suspected of being intelligence-gathering mechanisms for the Ministry of State Security.
AFN previously reported how a bipartisan bill in Congress, introduced earlier this year, would ban China-made automobiles from U.S. ownership because of their software and hardware.
Regarding the lawsuit, Hanaway says that the state is seeking $1.8 million in total damages, trying to recover at least $1,000 per Missouri family that purchased a camera from the company.
