The reason why fake drugs are still trusted by people, trading over 200 billion VND
The subjects added painkillers to the fake medicine. When patients bought and drank it, they immediately saw the effects, so they trusted it and continued to use it.
Thanh Hoa Provincial Police have just successfully dismantled a large-scale counterfeit drug production and trading ring nationwide, arresting 14 subjects for the crime of "Producing and trading counterfeit disease prevention and treatment drugs".
According to Thanh Hoa Police, the reason why these subjects are able to produce and sell a large quantity of fake drugs on the market is because they take advantage of people's habit of self-prescribing medicine, as well as their lack of knowledge when learning about the origin of the goods.
In particular, the target group is the elderly who want to buy and use medicines that treat bone and joint diseases, pain, and numbness at low prices, suitable for their income.
In addition, the subjects took advantage of loopholes in state management of pharmaceutical business activities at drugstores and pharmacies to mix in fake drugs.
One of the new criminal methods used by criminals is with drugs for treating bone and joint diseases. They do not counterfeit existing products circulating in the domestic and foreign markets. The criminals create their own drug names as well as company names based abroad, mainly in Hong Kong (China), Malaysia, Singapore, etc., which can easily confuse consumers.
The subjects involved in the ring have close connections and collusion with each other from the production stage to the stage of finding distribution channels to bring counterfeit goods to the market. Under the guise of being pharmacists of pharmaceutical companies, the subjects, through social networks such as Zalo, Facebook... advertise that they have sources of antibiotics from genuine companies that are "smuggled" or run sales in other regions without being able to issue invoices, so they sell them at a cheaper price than genuine goods.
Notably, the group of fake oriental medicines (treating bone and joint diseases) contains a large amount of painkillers, so when patients use them, they will feel pain relief immediately, making them trust them.
According to information from Thanh Hoa Provincial Police, the subjects producing and trading fake drugs bought raw materials such as starch, adhesives, pharmaceutical additives, bamboo charcoal, colorants, etc. to mix and package them into medicine.
Among them, the group of fake oriental medicine to treat bone and joint diseases that the authorities seized had initial test results showing that it contained a large amount of painkillers.
As for the group of fake Western medicines, no toxic medicinal properties have been detected, but they do not have antibiotic medicinal properties to treat diseases as the instructions printed on the packaging.
Through searching 6 locations where the subjects produced and worked in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of Vinh Phuc, Hung Yen, An Giang, Dong Thap, the police force seized 21 types of modern medicine, fake bone and joint medicine, with tens of thousands of boxes of various types. The total amount of money the subjects transacted in the counterfeit drug trade was about 200 billion VND.
