California mom feels 'violated' after discovering her photo being used in an advert for face masks on Facebook that claimed her family had DIED of coronavirus (3 Pics)

A California mother says she feels 'violated' after discovering that a face mask company used one of her family photos in an advertisement that claimed they had died of COVID-19.  

The ad, created by the company FilterMax, features a photo of Sara Ancich alongside her husband and three children. It features a caption beneath the image which reads: 'Youngest son from a family of 5 is the sole survivor of a deadly pandemic after wearing a CDC approved filter'. 

'Who would have the audacity to clearly not know a family and type that they had died?' an outraged Ancich asked in an interview with CBS News on Monday. 

The mom-of-three says she was first alerted to the ad by concerned friends who had seen it on Facebook. 

'They were all reaching out saying, 'Is this true,' 'You haven't posted anything in a while,' 'Are you there,' 'Are you OK,'' Ancich stated. 

California mom Sara Ancich (second from right) says she feels 'violated' after learning a face mask company used this photo on one of their advertisements and claimed the family had died of COVID-19

'Who would have the audacity to clearly not know a family and type that they had died?' an outraged Ancich asked in an interview with CBS News on Monday

The bogus FilterMax ad claimed that the family members had contracted COVID-19 while attending a local church service. 

'The family didn't wear any face masks which led them to be easily infected in that huge crowd,' the ad falsely claims. 

Ancich told CBS News that vulnerable people could clearly be duped by the ad - even though she and her family are very much alive and well.  

'It's on the forefront of everybody's mind in the news and everything and how quickly it is taking lives. It could so, so clearly been true to people,' she stated.  

Ancich contacted Facebook and asked them to remove the ad from their site - however, it continued to pop up. 

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The bogus ad shockingly claimed that the four older members of the Ancich family had died of COVID-19 

'It's violating.... I don't know how I could have prevented this,' she said. 

Ancich said the family photo was taken eight years ago, and must have been stolen off one of her social media accounts. 

The FilterMax ad also claimed that their products were approved by the Food and Drug Administration. However, the FDA told CBS News that there had been no such approval.

CBS News contacted Facebook about the bogus advertisement, and the company immediately removed it from its site. 

Facebook has now 'banned all ads having to do with hand sanitizer, masks, wipes and COVID-19 tests'. 

Indeed, millions of anxious Facebook users may have been duped into believing the ad given the continuing global spread of COVID-19. 

Two million people across the world have now tested positive to the contagious virus, and 128,000 people have died. 

More than a quarter of COVID-19 cases are located in the United States. More than 615,000 Americans have tested positive to the disease, and 26,000 have died.