Created on: 06/06/07 - Email to friend - Print Page

Tip-offs to Rip-offs

New health frauds pop up all the time, but the promoters usually fall back on the same old clichés and tricks to gain your trust and get your money. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine says the following are red flags for fraud:

The vendor or practitioner claims the treatment or product works by a secret formula. Legitimate scientists share their knowledge so their peers can review the data.

There are claims that the treatment is an amazing or miraculous breakthrough or a "cure." Real medical breakthroughs are few and far between, and when they happen, they're not touted as "amazing" or "miraculous" by any responsible scientist or journalist.

The treatment is publicized only in the back pages of magazines, over the phone, by direct mail, in newspaper ads that pretend to be news stories, or on 30-minute commercials in talk show format ("infomercials"). The results of studies on bona fide treatments are generally reported first in medical journals.

“Proof" for the treatment relies solely on testimonials from satisfied customers. These people may never have had the disease the product is supposed to cure, may be paid representatives, or may simply not exist. Often they're identified only by initials or first names.