A TikTok star has been arrested for selling fake weight loss drugs and beauty products containing banned substances that come with nasty side effects.
When it comes to health advice and getting actual medication, you should be sceptical of trusting an influencer, they're there to grow their following by hopping on the latest trends, claiming they've got the answer nobody else has yet come across.
The problem with that is their solutions often aren't up to much, and in some cases can be genuinely dangerous.
In that vein, a TikTok influencer named Vo Thi Ngoc Ngan was arrested in Vietnam on 13 October, after investigators found she'd been making and selling fake weight loss supplements under the ZuBu Shop brands she controlled.
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Police claim that since 2021, Ngan had worked with factories to make weight loss supplements that included unlicenced 'vegetable collagen capsules', which came as 'free gifts' along with the products.
The influencer avoided certain regulations by packaging the supplements as free gifts that came with sets she sold, and the police said she 'was not honest, provided evasive statements, and shifted blame to others to evade responsibility' when questioned.
Her packages cost between £25 and £31, and the TikTok star made a lot of money from promoting and selling them.
Tests on the capsules found that some of them contained banned substances including sibutramine and phenolphthalein, which have both been found in weight loss products but are banned in many countries as they pose a serious health risk.
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Among the potential side effects are cardiovascular problems, high blood pressure, digestive issues and an increased risk of cancer, so they're very much something you'd not want to get involved with.
Ngan was handing out these supplements via social media as she claimed that people could lose between four and 15kg, with the money from sales allegedly going through accounts belonging to her relatives and employees before they ended up in her pocket.
Ho Chi Minh City Police said they would be widening the scope of their investigation to determine how much involvement anyone else had.
Ngan will face charges for producing and trading counterfeit food products.
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Doctors have long warned about the perils of acquiring fake weight loss products and taking things that aren't approved by a medical professional.
Weight loss treatments have seen a significant surge in recent years, and with that popularity comes people trying to scam us out of our money.
In addition to not necessarily doing what they're advertised to do, many fake products contain other substances that pose a hazard to your health.
Topics: TikTok, Health, Social Media, World News, Crime, Drugs
Joe Harker