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OFT warns - don't waste money on 'miracle' health cures

34/07    28 February 2007

As part of its Scams Awareness Month the OFT is advising consumers not to waste money on 'miracle' health and slimming products which don’t do what they claim.

Consumers are being bombarded with mailings and emails from unscrupulous sellers of products promising miracle cures for all manner of problems. Treatments come in all forms including pills, lotions and creams offering cures for everything from baldness and obesity to impotence.

These medically ineffective and, in some cases, potentially dangerous products are sold by professional scammers using false claims that their product is a 'scientific breakthrough' following years of research and has been clinically proven. Typically claims are supported by fake testimonials from 'satisfied customers' and worthless 'money back guarantees'.

Recent OFT research found that around 200,000 UK consumers lose an estimated £20m a year to miracle health and slimming cures. The average amount lost per victim is £90. Women are the main target for slimming cures, and make up 78 per cent of the victim profile for this type of scam. 

The OFT advises consumers:

• not to believe claims that a product available only by mail order or over the web from an exclusive supplier contains a 'special', 'secret', 'foreign' or 'ancient' formula that will provide instant cures to a wide variety of ailments
• not to believe claims that the medical establishment has overlooked, or has hidden, a 'scientific breakthrough', and
• not to accept testimonials or case histories from so-called 'satisfied customers' as the only evidence that the product actually works.

Mike Haley, Head of OFT Scambusters Team said:

'Scammers exploit people’s desperate hopes for a miracle cure to their health problem. Not only are the products a waste of money but they can be dangerous, containing untested ingredients. We urge everyone who sees a miracle health advert to stop, think and think again. Take medical advice from your doctor or pharmacist before you buy any medicinal product by mail order or over the web.'

NOTES

1. Scams Awareness Month is part of an international initiative organised by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network. The OFT has enlisted the support of local authority Trading Standards Services, Consumer Direct, the Advertising Standards Authority and other consumer and industry bodies.

2. The key message of the campaign is to 'stop, think and think again' if you think you may have been targeted by a scam. The campaign also exposes the key myths about scams, that they are victimless crimes, that victims only lose money, and that only the vulnerable become victims.

3. Recent research commissioned by the OFT involving 11,200 interviews has found that every year 1.4 million UK consumers fall victim to prize draw and sweepstake scams, 480,000 to pyramid selling and chain letter scams, 400,000 to bogus holiday clubs, 330,000 to work at home scams, 200,000 to miracle health scams, and 170,000 to clairvoyant and psychic scams. Read the OFT scams research (pdf 303 kb).

4. Scams are an OFT priority. The OFT launched a Scambusters team and set up the Scams Enforcement Group with partner organisations focussing on law enforcement; consumer education; and cooperation with private sector businesses to disrupt scammers' routes to market.

5. During the campaign the OFT is targeting particular UK regions: the Midlands, South East, North East and Wales.

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