The Insolvency Service office (UK) published the following warning:
During Scams Awareness Month, people are being warned to be vigilant against rogue health supplement companies who target elderly and vulnerable victims.
Investigators found that call centre staff deployed a range of unscrupulous tactics, such as claiming to be ringing on behalf of doctors or other qualified health professionals while offering unregulated health advice, as well as phoning people registered with the Telephone Preference Service.
The Insolvency Service recommends:
- Don’t stop taking prescribed medicine in favour of health supplements without speaking to your GP or pharmacist first
- If you or a loved one think they have been a victim of a health supplements scam report it immediately to Action Fraud UK or get advice from Citizens Advice Consumer Service
- Don’t rush into buying health supplements just because the seller is offering a good deal and if you’ve already made a payment, contact your credit card company and/or bank and tell them that you may have fallen victim to a fraud
Please find attached a link for the full warning and testimonials from victims.
The Information Commissioner’s Office reported that there were 8,454 nuisance marketing concerns reported to the ICO in April 2018 – an increase of 11% compared with March, it issued five monetary penalties in the same period, 1,551 spam text concerns were reported in April 2018 (increase of 261 concerns), there were 4,489 concerns submitted to the Telephone Preference Service in April (7% decrease from the figure for March), but overall year-on-year decrease in reported concerns (explained by: Successful investigations and enforcement action, Monetary penalties and enforcement action receiving widespread media coverage, Call blocking and SMS anti-spam technology, and regulatory actions).
It seems just a matter of time, until you will a get a call, text message, email, Whats-app/ Viber/Facebook/Telegram message, please make sure you are not next victim.