False advertising, selling counterfeit goods, and financialization of products... Health product scams are rampant, and the elderly population has become a key target of hunting. The health product market, which should have protected health, has been targeted by some illegal elements. They use the pretext of health and wellness, play "psychological warfare" rhetoric, and leverage the brand reputation of time-honored brands to reach out to the "wallets" of the elderly. What is the truth behind the illegal marketing behind the dense fog of health product scams? How to protect the "money bag" of the elderly? The reporter interviewed relevant personnel. Question: The contrast behind the "miracle drug": "My parents have been using their phones to listen to 'health lectures' on time recently, and they even go out mysteriously in the morning. At first, she only brought back eggs and beef sauce, but later she secretly went to the bank to withdraw money and brought back a bunch of 'miracle drugs' that claimed to cure all diseases... "Not long ago, Ms. Chen from Yinchuan, Ningxia looked at the piled up bottles and jars in her home with great concern. Ms. Chen's experience is not an isolated case. In the consumption of health products, elderly people who are usually frugal now generously donate in the face of high priced health products that claim to cure all diseases. Where does this trust come from? Ms. Zhou, a resident of Shanghai, pointed to the question of "brand". I bought it for 'Tongrentang', "Ms. Zhou said. When she purchased this" Antarctic krill oil "on the e-commerce platform, she did not carefully study the ingredient list." The page says' 99% high-purity ', and it is a big brand, so I think it should be reliable. "However, when the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission commissioned a professional organization to test multiple Antarctic krill oil products on the market, it was found that one of the products with the nominal" 99% high-purity "had a measured phospholipid content of 0. Why is it tested as 0 when it is labeled as' high-purity '? Is the prominent old brand on the outer packaging the brand that consumers have in mind? What is even more shocking is that some health product scams targeting the elderly have escalated into a "financialized" complex trap that combines false advertising, illegal fundraising, and pyramid schemes. Auntie, our 'Quantum Health Products' project can not only keep you healthy, but also generate money with an annual profit of 20%! ”Not long ago, 70 year old Aunt Zhang from Guangdong met a "enthusiastic" salesperson while taking a walk in the park. The other party not only recommended the company's "Quantum Health Products" project, but also invited Aunt Zhang to visit the "high-end" retirement base. The luxurious facilities and "professional" explanations made Aunt Zhang deeply believe in this "health+investment" project, and almost transferred 200000 yuan of savings to an unfamiliar company account in another city. If the bank teller hadn't noticed the abnormality and joined forces with the police to dissuade her, Aunt Zhang's life savings might have evaporated instantly. Various' miracle drugs', bottles of 'high-purity oil', and 'health investments' are hope in the hearts of the elderly, but in the eyes of regulators, they are scams specifically designed to deceive them. Exploration: Illegal marketing is rampant with questions. The reporter went deep into the front line, visited regulatory departments and involved enterprises, trying to clear the fog and clarify the operational logic behind the scam. The secretive "Actor Lecture" - Ding Lan, the director of the Funing Street Market Supervision Office in Yinchuan, recounted to reporters the process of Ms. Chen's parents being deceived. The investigation found that the cat was hiding in a seemingly ordinary convenience store within the jurisdiction. This is actually a health product marketing hub for online live sales and offline delivery. ”Ding Lan introduced that the store claims to be a convenience store and a "delivery station", but many elderly people gather here every morning, and the staff in the store are cautious when communicating with them. After careful investigation, there is a small suite behind the front hall of the convenience store that ordinary customers cannot enter. They first distributed 'designated red envelopes' through WeChat groups, using free small favors such as eggs and beef sauce as bait to attract elderly people to join specific group chats. Every day, the live broadcast of 'health lectures' starts on time, and relevant personnel impersonate' famous doctors' and 'experts' to exaggerate the efficacy of products such as dendrobium products and Ganoderma lucidum snow lotus extract. ”Ding Lan said that they are using false advertising to induce elderly people to purchase high priced products and completing transactions through the "online ordering, offline pickup" model. During the on-site inspection by law enforcement personnel, it was found that some of the products involved in the case were even classified as "three no" products. The absurd "OEM game" - the phospholipid content of the "Antarctic krill oil" health product was measured to be 0, and there is a chain behind it consisting of low-priced customization, unclear responsibilities, and "borderline" packaging. Tang Jiansheng, Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Committee, presented shocking data to reporters: the retail price of the products involved on e-commerce platforms is mostly between 50 yuan and 70 yuan per bottle, while the materials provided by the production enterprise show that their factory price is only over 3 yuan. Such a price is clearly not in line with industry common sense. As a professional enterprise engaged in the operation of health products, it is impossible to have no doubt about this price. The deeper problem lies in the "Rashomon" of responsibility. The manufacturer Anhui Haibo Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. admitted that Antarctic krill oil was not added during the production process, and stated that the products involved were customized and purchased by the distributor, and the packaging was also made according to their requirements. However, the distributor Beijing Tongrentang (Sichuan) Health Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. argued that they were only distributors and were not aware of the suspected counterfeit products. From customized procurement, unified supply to packaging sample stamping, it is more in line with the characteristics of commissioned production or commissioned processing. ”Tang Jiansheng pointed out that compared to simply being a "distributor", the commissioning party should bear more direct responsibility for product quality. In addition, the product in question prominently displays the words "Beijing Tongrentang" on the outer packaging, but in reality, it is not a well-known old brand trademark used by consumers, but another proprietary brand. On e-commerce pages, the multiple overlapping of brand name, company name, and promotional language can easily lead consumers to form the perception of "this is a product of Beijing Tongrentang". This behavior of using consumers' simple trust in time-honored brands to play a "word game" on packaging is also a typical means of disorder in health products. The disguised 'financial trap' - Aunt Zhang's experience with the 'quantum health product' financial fraud exposed that the fraudulent methods have been upgraded to 'financialization'. Scammers are no longer just selling products, but also selling a fictional story about the "health industry" and the "miracle of wealth". They first accompanied the elderly to relieve their boredom through a "warmth offensive", and as "enthusiastic people", they cared for their well-being and brought them closer together. Then, they used luxurious venues to create the illusion of "strong strength". The "health+investment" dual bait bundling accurately captures the psychology of elderly people who pay attention to health preservation and crave wealth preservation, and links fake health products with high-yield investments, creating the guise of "killing two birds with one stone". In fact, the so-called base is rented, and the investment project is purely fictional, targeting the elderly's "money bag" directly. Analysis: It is no longer enough to rely solely on consumers' personal judgment to help the elderly keep their "wallets" safe in the face of the increasingly complex chaos of health products. Lei Anqi, Director and Associate Professor of the Department of Administration and Sociology at the Law School of Ningxia University, stated that the chaos of health products for the elderly is not the problem of individual vendors, but rather a cross regional and highly organized "grey industry chain" that requires multi-party cooperation for governance. She suggested establishing a cross departmental professional evaluation mechanism for exaggerated treatment efficacy, consisting of a "rapid identification" team composed of market supervision, health, drug supervision, and experts, to improve the efficiency of identification and disposal; At the same time, punitive damages and industry bans will be used to impose joint punishment on repeat offenders, making them unable to afford to cheat and afraid to cheat again. The market supervision department of Yinchuan City reminds that in various unofficial health lectures, many so-called "experts" and "famous doctors" are played by non professionals. If product promotion is mixed in during the lecture, or if private messages are added or group chats are added for consultation, it is usually "pseudo science popularization, real sales promotion". Consumers must verify the identity of experts and the source of products. Genuine health food packaging must have a nationally approved "blue hat" logo and approval number. Ordinary foods (such as solid drinks and compressed candies) must not claim health benefits, let alone therapeutic effects. Older people should not trust products with simple packaging and no approval number. Regarding the brand's "borderline" behavior, institutional supplementation is already on the way. In response to the "Antarctic krill oil" incident, the State Administration for Market Regulation pointed out that the incident exposed the problem of non-standard management in the commissioned production and processing process of some enterprises. Some companies, leveraging their brand influence, only focus on sales profits without fulfilling their due responsibility for product quality control, and even condone the production and sale of substandard products by commissioned companies. From the situation reflected in this incident, it can be seen that in the field of health functional foods, consumers' judgment of product information is highly dependent on packaging and brand presentation. Once the boundaries of the relevant links are blurred, it is easy to cause misjudgment and increase the cost of subsequent rights protection. ”Tang Jiansheng said that the key to regulation is to further shift the responsibility requirements to the production and sales sources through institutional means. It is reported that the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Commissioned Production" in December last year, which included trademark authorization, franchising, processing with supplied materials, customized production and other methods in unified supervision, clarified and refined the food safety responsibilities of both parties entrusted, and improved the institutional requirements. This means that regardless of the cooperation model adopted, brand owners and commissioning parties can no longer weaken their responsibilities solely on the grounds of "OEM" and "distribution". For the "financial traps" disguised through health products, banks and other financial institutions need to strengthen risk investigation, build a strong financial security defense line, and work together from multiple parties. The daily care and risk reminders for children are the first and most important 'firewall'. Children should spend more time accompanying and caring for the elderly, communicate with their parents about hot social cases, and popularize financial knowledge such as "high returns inevitably come with high risks". Guide elderly people to invest and manage their finances through formal channels, remind them to be vigilant about sales from strangers, and make sure to consult with their children before making large transfers. Financial institutions must guard the "final checkpoint" of capital flow. Bank branches should establish strengthened inquiry mechanisms for large transfers made by elderly people to unfamiliar accounts, especially for transactions where the recipient's name clearly does not match the so-called "investment project". (Looking into the New Era)