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Victims lose £10m in health supplement scam

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
11/06/2018

Tens of thousands of people have fallen victim to a new scam involving rogue health supplement companies, according to the government.

Since 2016, the Insolvency Service has wound up nine health supplement companies after they scammed people, often the elderly and vulnerable, into unnecessarily buying their products.

These companies duped 36,000 victims out of around £10.6m, government figures estimate.

Consumer Minister, Andrew Griffiths MP, said: “These shocking supplement scams are targeting thousands of the most vulnerable people in our society. The Insolvency Service is playing a vital role in protecting consumers and cracking down on these cowboy firms.

“During Scams Awareness Month I am encouraging anyone who has fallen foul of these scams to speak up and report it, so we can stamp them out for good.”

In one case, Newbury-based Healthspring Wellness Product Limited contracted a call centre based in Mumbai to sell health supplements to the over 55s, who were either housebound or had difficulty in getting to the shops, on their behalf. The call centre deployed aggressive sales tactics and gave out false medical advice.

Following an Insolvency Service investigation, Healthspring Wellness was wound up in November 2017.