Also called: Health scams · Quackery
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Health Fraud
Health fraud scams involve selling medicines, supplements, devices, foods, or cosmetics that have not been proven effective. At best, these scams don't work. At worst, they're dangerous. They also waste money and might keep you from getting the treatment you really need.
Some of the possible dangers of scam products are that they could:
- Be contaminated from being made in unclean facilities or without proper quality control
- Contain harmful ingredients that are not listed on the label
- Trigger a harmful interaction with medicines you are taking
- Cause serious, even life-threatening, injuries
Health fraud scams can be found everywhere, promising help for many common health issues, including weight loss, memory loss, sexual performance, and joint pain. They target people with serious conditions such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, HIV, and Alzheimer's disease.
Just remember - if it sounds too good to be true, it's probably a scam. Some red flags to watch for are product claims that:
- Have personal testimonials by "real" people or "doctors" played by actors claiming amazing results.
- Say that the product can treat or cure a wide range of unrelated diseases. No one product can treat or cure many different illnesses.
- Mention conspiracy theories like "This is the cure our government and Big Pharma don't want you to know about."
- Include phrases such as: Ancient remedy
- Miracle cure
- No-risk money back guarantee
- Natural cure
- Quick fix
- Secret ingredient
- Scientific breakthrough
Before taking an unproven or little-known product, talk to your health care provider, especially if you are taking any prescription medicines.
Food and Drug Administration
It sits within Health System.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Health Fraud
6 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Healthcare Integrity & Anti-Fraud EnforcementTruway Health, Inc.
Research already completed
- IMPROV-ing The Impostor PhenomenonUniversity Health Network, Toronto
- The Effect of Informative Letters on the Prescription and Receipt of Schedule II Controlled SubstancesAbdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
- The Effect of Informative Letters on the Prescription and Receipt of SeroquelAbdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
- Electronic Pharmacotherapy Risk ManagementUniversity of Utah
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- 6 Tip-offs to Rip-offs: Don't Fall for Health Fraud ScamsFood and Drug Administration
- How to Spot Health FraudFood and Drug Administration
Related Issues
- BeSafeRx: Your Source for Online Pharmacy InformationFood and Drug Administration
- How to Buy Medicines Safely from an Online PharmacyFood and Drug Administration
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Fraud. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Health Fraud, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.