My mother actually believed it! "Reporter investigates health care product scams involving the elderly, "Take it for half a year and you will be ten years younger
According to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Internet Network Information Center, by the end of 2023, the national population aged 60 and above will exceed 296 million, of which about 170 million are Internet users. As the "silver economy" enters the fast lane of digitalization, some profit-seeking scammers have also set their sights on this "big cake": in some online live broadcast rooms, there are all kinds of health care product sales tactics, which attract many elderly people with health anxiety to buy at high prices; some online and offline lectures claim that the products have miraculous therapeutic effects, but consumers only find out that they are ordinary foods after checking the instructions after buying them; and some people deceive the elderly with the name of "famous doctors and miracle drugs" and unscrupulously collect ill-gotten gains.
It requires the joint efforts of the whole society to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly, protect their lives and property from all aspects and angles, and create a safe, healthy and harmonious social environment for them. Today, the Legal Economics and Wealth Edition launches a special report on the health and wellness rights of the elderly, in order to promote the public to enhance their ability to discern information and keep the elderly away from being deceived. Please pay attention.
"If you take it for half a year, you will look ten years younger. My mom actually believed it!"
Recently, Dai Rui from Zigong, Sichuan, told a reporter from Legal Daily that her 60-year-old mother placed an order without hesitation after seeing the promotion of a health food called "Longevity Code" on the Internet. She was so convinced of its efficacy that she even "dragged her grandmother to eat it together."
"Eating it can make you live longer? This sounds fake, and the registration number on the 'longevity code' cannot be found on the relevant platform. But my mother doesn't think so, and no matter how we persuade her, she won't change her mind. She has already spent more than 30,000 yuan on it." Dai Rui said.
In reality, there are many elderly people like Dai Rui's mother who believe in the exaggerated propaganda of health products. Previously, the media disclosed many cases of fraud by selling "health management devices" to the elderly. Unscrupulous merchants promoted a massage device to the elderly that could "cure all diseases", causing many elderly people to spend 15,900 yuan to buy this product, and some even stopped taking the medicine recommended by the hospital. However, after investigation by the market supervision department, this massage device is just an ordinary household appliance with a factory price of 1,880 yuan.
Public reports show that in recent years, scams involving the elderly caused by health products such as "health management devices" have emerged one after another. Some unscrupulous merchants have accurately grasped the needs of the elderly for health care, taking advantage of the elderly's single channel for obtaining information, insufficient ability to discern information, and easy trust in others, and deceived the elderly into buying at high prices.
Experts interviewed suggested that judicial organs explore the establishment of institutions or teams that specifically handle fraud cases involving the elderly, so as to handle such cases more professionally and quickly, and strengthen cooperation with market supervision, financial supervision and other departments to form a joint prevention and control governance structure. Communities and families should also take responsibility. Communities should establish mechanisms to promptly discover and intervene in cases of fraud involving the elderly, and family members should respect, care for and take care of the elderly to prevent them from being deceived due to loneliness, anxiety and other reasons.
According to Dai Rui, her mother attended an online health management lecture by chance and was attracted by the lecture given by an expert named "Zhuoran Team". "The lecture was very formal, with the background of a 'studio'. The so-called expert talked a lot about nutrition and health, and the so-called gold medal assistant kept telling the elderly that the course was very popular and they should sign up as soon as possible."
On the course interface that Dai Rui showed to reporters, one can see various "famous doctors" and "famous courses": senior researchers, senior nutritionists, senior psychological counselors, senior Chinese and Western medicine health managers, senior think tank experts from the Chinese Talent Pool, and Professor Holford's course on rebuilding the self-healing power.
There are also various efficacy propaganda: if you are afraid of getting a tumor, eat longevity codes; chronic bronchitis, diabetes, lumbar disc herniation, poor sleep, and obstructed excretion can all be cured with longevity codes; long-term use has "absolutely no side effects"; the nutrient absorption rate is 95%; smoking and drinking are not the main causes of cancer, the main cause is poor resistance, and eating more longevity codes can prevent cancer.
In addition to Longevity Code No. 1 and No. 2, the team also sells various elderly care products to the elderly, such as probiotics that "cure all diseases", foot bath medicine, and Polygonatum odoratum tea that can detoxify the body.
"Many elderly people firmly believe in this. My mother told me with assurance that Zhuoran would not sell fake products. Look, so many authoritative experts say it is good." Dai Rui said helplessly.
Like Dai Rui, Wang Ran from Baoding, Hebei, is also troubled by the fact that his elderly are deeply involved in elderly care products. In May this year, Wang Ran found that his 70-year-old grandmother brought a bunch of "goat milk powder" home from a health lecture.
"My grandmother told me that goat milk powder contains various elements and can cure anything. But I checked online and found that it is just an ordinary food." Wang Ran said that one course of treatment requires nearly 5,000 yuan of goat milk powder, and his grandmother has already bought several courses of treatment. "My family can't persuade me at all."
Wang Ran told reporters that like many elderly people, her grandmother was "enticed" to attend lectures by offering free eggs and rice. After each lecture, the speaker would lead the elderly in shouting slogans, calling on them to spend. "Once the slogans were shouted and various therapeutic effects were promised, many elderly people would be 'dizzy' and buy a lot of goat milk powder."
Not long ago, Wang Ran reported this situation to the local market supervision department, and the company that held the lecture has been ordered to rectify the situation.
The reporter searched third-party complaint platforms and social platforms using keywords such as "elderly, cure-all" and "elderly, special-effect medicine" and found many relevant complaints and notes.
"The number of people who have been deceived is actually far greater than what you see on the Internet. Many elderly people do not think they have been deceived, and some children also think that the money is not much anyway, as long as the product does not harm health and the elderly at home are happy, it's fine." Officer Xu, who works at the public security bureau in Nankai District, Tianjin, told reporters.
“Cure all diseases”, “fight against aging”, “in just half a year, your body can return from 70 to 60, and from 60 to 50”... Why do the elderly believe in these propaganda that looks “fake” at first glance?
The interviewees summarized the reasons why their elderly family members were deceived and found that these products often exaggerate the efficacy of the products and target the pain points of the elderly in their pursuit of health and longevity. At the same time, they use expensive prices to prove that they are different from ordinary food and medicine. The lecturers or hosts' "authoritative titles" make the elderly believe them without a doubt and are willing to pay for them.
In the view of Yao Jinju, professor at the School of Law of Beijing Foreign Studies University, the concept of "medicine and food have the same origin" is deeply rooted in traditional Chinese culture. Many elderly people believe that health care products can regulate the body and prevent diseases like traditional Chinese medicine, so they are more likely to accept health care products as a way to deal with diseases.
Zhang Bufeng, a professor at the School of Law of Minzu University of China, told reporters that the greater focus on health, blind trust in new technologies and health products, and lack of children's company are also important reasons why health products such as "cures all diseases" and "has miraculous effects" have a market. When sales staff establish close contact with the elderly and gain their trust, some elderly people who have less contact with their children are more likely to be influenced by bad businesses.
According to public reports, recently, Ms. Wang from Shanghai discovered that a health experience store near her community often sells a so-called health management device to the elderly, claiming that the device has a magical effect on relieving a variety of diseases. After a consumer tried it, his lung nodules and gastrointestinal polyps disappeared. Later, market regulators found that this health management device is actually just an ordinary household appliance with a massage function.
In the opinion of Meng Qiang, a professor at the School of Law of Beijing Institute of Technology, promoting foods with ordinary ingredients as panaceas that "cure all diseases" and "have miraculous effects in treating difficult and complicated diseases", and promoting ordinary massage devices as "magic tools" with therapeutic and health management functions and selling them at high prices are obviously intended to deceive and mislead consumers and make a profit.
"If criminals want to make a profit, they choose elderly people with weaker recognition abilities as sales targets, use small benefits such as lectures and gifts to attract the elderly, and fabricate facts and conceal the truth to exaggerate or even fabricate the treatment effects, touting them as a 'miracle drug' that can cure all diseases and prolong life, causing the elderly to buy the product based on misunderstandings. Their behavior is suspected of constituting the crime of fraud," said Officer Xu.
During the investigation, the reporter found that some elderly people even stopped using related medicines because they believed in the miraculous effects of health products. "Some families are not rich to begin with, and some elderly people buy health products with the mentality of curing illnesses. As a result, they not only lose their pension money, but also delay treatment and endanger their lives and health," said Wang Ran.
How can we eradicate the chaos of false advertising and sales of health products?
In Yao Jinju's opinion, the telephone is the most convenient communication tool for the elderly. It is recommended that localities open special hotlines to carry out relevant consultation and prevention publicity. It is possible to consider including elderly rights protection cases in the scope of public interest litigation, and have the procuratorate file public interest litigation on behalf of the elderly group. This can not only overcome the impact of the weak litigation ability of the elderly in the traditional litigation model, but also urge the relevant administrative organs to perform their supervisory duties, thereby protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly to a greater extent.
"Judicial authorities can explore the establishment of institutions or teams that specialize in handling fraud cases involving the elderly, so as to handle such cases more professionally and quickly. They should also strengthen cooperation with market supervision, financial supervision and other departments to jointly combat illegal and criminal activities that defraud the elderly and form a governance structure of joint prevention and control," said Yao Jinju.
Zhang Bufeng suggested that market supervision and management authorities should take the initiative to visit and investigate merchants, conduct product and service surveys on "beauty," "medical" and "health care" merchants, conduct legal publicity among merchants on whether sales practices constitute "fraud," and prevent elderly-related scams caused by health care products from the source.
Experts interviewed believe that the key to protecting the elderly’s “purses” is to start with the communities and families that are closest to their lives.
Zhang Bufeng proposed that the mechanism for village "two committees" members to contact the masses should be improved. For example, they should connect with hospitals more often, ask designated hospitals to popularize health knowledge for the elderly, explain the treatment methods and treatment cycles of common diseases among the elderly, popularize the knowledge that when choosing health products, they should look for the "blue hat" health food logo approved by relevant national departments, establish social groups and other community elderly mutual assistance networks, and visit the elderly in time to understand the situation if they find that they travel in groups and bring back a large number of health products.
"The community neighborhood committee should play an important role in promoting the rule of law. When carrying out rule of law publicity, we should also work with market supervision and management departments, judicial organs, etc., and carry out publicity through diversified means such as short videos and public account tweets." Zhang Bufeng said.
"The requirements for family members in the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly are more specific: family members should respect, care for and take care of the elderly, should visit or greet the elderly frequently, and encourage family members to live with or live nearby the elderly. Therefore, it is not only a moral requirement for families to provide help to the elderly, but also a subject of legal regulation, and family members should actively fulfill this obligation." Yao Jinju said that children should enhance their parents' awareness of prevention, help their parents identify false propaganda, teach them to check product labels and understand the true efficacy of products, etc.; provide parents with correct health information, help them understand the prevention and treatment of various chronic diseases; pay attention to their parents' mental health, promptly channel their negative emotions, and prevent them from being deceived due to loneliness, anxiety and other reasons.
Zhang Bufeng suggested that once family members discover that an elderly person in the family has been deceived in purchasing health products, they should comfort the deceived elderly person and stabilize his or her emotions as soon as possible; at the same time, they should collect and fix the information of the deceived elderly person and help the elderly person to protect their rights according to law and recover their losses.
