Medication Health Fraud
In general, health fraud drug products are articles of unproven effectiveness that claim to treat disease or improve health. In addition to wasting billions of consumers' dollars each year, health scams can lead patients to delay proper treatment and cause serious—and even fatal—injuries. FDA is very concerned about these fraud products, and removing these products from the market remains one of the Agency's top priorities.
FDA wants to hear from you if you have an unexpected reaction to an FDA-regulated product or suspect unlawful sales of medical products on the internet. If you have any reporting questions or want to discuss a product, you can call your local FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator or talk to an FDA pharmacist.
General Health Fraud
- Six Tip-offs to Rip-offs: Don't Fall for Health Fraud Scams – Learn how to protect your family from fraudulent scams and products. Health fraud scams play on the desire for a quick or miracle cure.
- Health fraud product database Search this database for over 1,000 unapproved products that have been subject to FDA related violations. This list only includes a small fraction of the potentially hazardous products. The FDA defines health fraud as the deceptive promotion, advertising, distribution, or sale of a product represented as being effective to prevent, diagnose, treat, cure or lessen an illness or condition, or provide another beneficial effect on health, but that has not been scientifically proven safe and effective for such purposes.
- Health fraud scam news
Tainted Products Marketed as Dietary Supplements
- Tainted Body Building Products
- Tainted Sexual Enhancement Products
- Tainted Weight Loss Products
- Tainted Arthritis/Pain Products
- Tainted Sleep Aid Products
- RSS Feed for Tainted Dietary Supplements
- Some Imported Dietary Supplements and Nonprescription Drug Products May Harm You
Internet/Buying Online
- BeSafeRX: Know Your Online Pharmacy
- Locate a State-Licensed Online Pharmacy
- Considering an Online Pharmacy?
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- FDA Internet Pharmacy Warning Letters
- How to Buy Medicines Safely from an Online Pharmacy
- Buying Drugs Online: It's Convenient and Private, but Beware of 'Rogue Sites'
Fraudulent Products for Serious Diseases
- Fraudulent Coronavirus Tests, Vaccines and Treatments
- Products Claiming to "Cure" Cancer are a Cruel Deception
- Do Not Use: Black Salve is Dangerous and Called by Many Names
- Watch Out for False Promises on Some Dietary Supplements for Infertility
- Beware of Illegally Marketed Diabetes Treatments
- Some CBD Products are Being Marketed with Unproven Medical Claims and Could be Produced with Unsafe Manufacturing Practices
- Questions and Answers: Reumofan Plus and Reumofan Plus Premium
- FTC's order against Promoters of Supreme Greens and Coral Calcium dietary supplements upheld
- Warning not to use Arrow Brand Medicated Oil and Embrocation, Aceite Medicinal La Flecha, or 箭嘜驅風油
Counterfeit Medicine
Compliance Resources
- Letter to Manufacturers of Dietary Supplements
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products: Guidance for Industry
- Tainted Products Marketed as Dietary Supplements and Foods: Responsibilities of Retailers and Distributors
- Street Drug Alternatives: Guidance for Industry
- CDER-CFSAN Agreement: This document outlines a working agreement between the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) and the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
- Fraudulent Drugs: Compliance Guide
Reporting to FDA
- Reporting Unlawful Sales of Medical Products on the Internet
- Dietary Supplements - Adverse Event Reporting
- Report a Serious Medical Product Problem Online