'Cancer cure' drugs are flooding social media

Advertising is rampant on social networks

Currently, on social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, the situation of advertising impersonating "traditional doctors" to sell oriental medicines is happening everywhere. Exaggerated advertisements such as "cure diabetes completely", "cure cancer without surgery", or "no cure, no charge" appear with high frequency, hitting the psychology of patients.

Typically, on a Facebook page, the Minh Khang anti-cancer oriental medicine is also widely advertised with the effect of "helping shrink all types of tumors and cancers without surgery".

Posing as a patient with thyroid tumor, when we contacted the phone number posted on the page, a woman claiming to be the owner of the facility said: “Western medicine may not cure tumors and cancers, but I can cure them. Thyroid tumor is a simple type, you only need to take a course of 6 bottles of medicine, each bottle costs 320,000 VND, a total of nearly 2 million VND, and the tumor will shrink.”

According to this person, the product is Vietnamese tobacco cooked into a paste. This woman said she lives in Dong Le town, Tuyen Hoa district, Quang Binh province. This Facebook page also advertises many other products such as: medicine to treat cirrhosis with a commitment of "80% reduction after one course of treatment"...

In particular, a recent case on Facebook named “Ba Trai Commune Pharmacy, Ba Vi District (Hanoi)” posted a video of a person wearing a white blouse promising to cure type 1 and type 2 diabetes with functional foods after only 1 course of treatment at a price of nearly 2 million VND/month. Notably, this product was also labeled “broadcast on VTV1” to create false trust for buyers. However, according to verification from Vietnam Television, this is a fake, untrue, and unlicensed advertising act.

Not only medicine, products such as liver tonic, kidney tonic, bone and joint tonic, skin beautifying, hair blackening... are also advertised heavily, sometimes with images of famous people to appeal to the "buy because of idol" mentality. As a result, many consumers "lose money and get sick".

According to experts, many types of oriental medicine currently circulating are laced with preservatives and toxic lead, which can cause liver and kidney failure if used for a long time.

Recently, Ms. Nguyen Thi L. (75 years old) in Nam Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district had to be hospitalized for kidney failure. Before that, after watching an advertisement on YouTube, she bought oriental medicine for bone and joint problems from a facility in Thanh Hoa at a cost of more than 9 million VND for a 1-year course of treatment. However, the disease did not improve, on the contrary, she had edema, went to the hospital and was diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency due to the use of illegal drugs.

The Department of Food Safety, Ministry of Health emphasized that currently, on social networking sites, there is a proliferation of advertising content for functional foods, especially popular on platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Shopee... with flowery, unverified words.

Faced with this situation, the Ministry of Public Security has recently advised people to be vigilant when purchasing and using medicinal products of unknown origin. Currently, many products with brands such as “Bach Thao joint pills”, “An Tri Vuong ointment”, “Tieu Tri Vuong ointment”, “An Khop Dan”, “Phuc Cot Thanh”, “DB bone and joint pills” have appeared on the market and have been handled by the authorities.

Need to strengthen management work

Mr. Nguyen Hong Phong - Deputy Head of Nghe An Market Management Department said: In the context of strong development of e-commerce, consumers tend to shop online more. However, many websites, applications, and social networks are becoming places to sell fake and smuggled goods, causing great damage to buyers and legitimate businesses.

Nghe An - one of the provinces with a fairly fast e-commerce business development speed, currently ranked 14th out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide. The whole province currently has 534 sales websites, 4 trading floors and 2 mobile applications of organizations and individuals that have notified and registered with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

However, there are still many difficulties in preventing and combating e-commerce fraud. Most consumers still buy goods through platforms that have not been approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Transactions often take place via text messages, without invoices or transparent contracts, which is a loophole for counterfeit goods to infiltrate the market.

In addition, Facebook, Zalo, Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube groups are becoming “black markets” for counterfeit drugs and functional foods of unknown origin. Many sellers impersonate doctors, experts, and even major media agencies to promote their products. This makes consumers, especially the elderly and patients, vulnerable to fraud. In fact, there have been many cases of Nghe An people falling victim to these scams.

Registering to open a website and buying a foreign domain name is also very easy nowadays. With just a few simple steps, individuals and organizations can set up a "virtual" sales page without going through censorship from the authorities. When reported, they immediately erase traces or move to a new location to continue operating, making management and handling even more difficult.

In Nghe An, in recent times, the authorities have discovered and penalized many websites that sell goods in violation. According to the report, from the beginning of 2024 to now, the Market Management Department has coordinated with relevant units to handle 28 cases related to e-commerce, with administrative fines of up to more than 623 million VND. The main violations include: trading in counterfeit goods, trading in goods that infringe intellectual property rights on the Internet.

To prevent and stop violations, Nghe An Market Management Department has implemented many solutions: Organizing training courses on distinguishing genuine and fake goods for officials, assigning inspectors with expertise in information technology to monitor and make a list of organizations and individuals operating in e-commerce. At the same time, coordinating with other forces to monitor and track down networks, groups, and warehouses serving online sales activities, livestreaming on social networks such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc.

According to experts, to completely prevent violations in e-commerce, it is necessary to have the synchronous participation of many ministries, branches and local authorities. At the same time, it is necessary to handle organizations that publish advertisements when the content has not been assessed.

Other authorities also need to actively track down the people behind the fake websites and strictly handle fraudulent acts to serve as a deterrent. In particular, cases of false advertising that cause serious consequences to public health need to be criminally prosecuted.