Buyer Beware: Health Product Scams a New Appeal

By Linda A Johnson -- AP Business Writer

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Public fears of swine flu have brought snake-oil salespeople out of the woodwork, adding to the pool of fraudulent products claiming to cure conditions from diabetes to obesity.

It's easy to advise "buyer beware." But such scams are taking in billions of dollars a year, some to the tune of hundreds of dollars per customer.

Swine flu scams popped up so fast after the epidemic started two months ago, the Food and Drug Administration quickly set up a fraud task force to comb the Web for fake products and get them off the market. But it's a never-ending job because bogus operations can just open up shop under another name with a different Web site.

"It's a lot like Whack-a-Mole, where you hit one and another one pops up," said David Schardt of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Scam artists typically prey on the public's fears of diseases or insecurities about excess weight, wrinkling faces or sexual performance.

Already, FDA has issued dozens of letters to sellers of swine flu products.

"Anytime there's an emerging disease ... almost overnight products just appear" that are unproven or illegal, as with the anthrax and SARS scares, said Gary Coody, FDA's health fraud coordinator.

Among the dubious swine flu products FDA has gone after are a detoxification kit called "Resolve Swine Flu" that promises to eliminate the virus from the body, a product called FSBS that claims to modify the population of microbes in the body to set up natural defenses and an air sterilizer to destroy biological contaminants. Others include an electron-magnet body scanner to boost your immune system and a drink supplement to "protect your whole family from swine flu in any mutations," said Alyson Saben, deputy director of its office of enforcement.

When shopping online, particularly if you're responding to a product ad, there are some easy checks you can make to try to steer clear of a scam.