Revealed: Royal Mail delivers danger pills to elderly
May demands Royal Mail cleans up its act over scam letters that target elderly
ROYAL Mail is delivering unlicensed medicines despite repeated warnings of their potential dangers.
The illegal pills and remedies that put the elderly at risk are being sold through catalogues dropped through hundreds of thousands of letterboxes.
An investigation by this newspaper can reveal that Royal Mail had a direct contract with at least one firm behind some of the bogus medicines.
The pills are supposed to help with joint problems, memory loss, sight problems or digestive disorders. But they can be dangerous because buyers are not told of harmful side effects or possible interference with other medication.
Our investigations unit revealed yesterday that Royal Mail was making millions of pounds from conmen who defraud the elderly. That prompted Theresa May, MPs and campaigners to call for more action to tackle the letter scams.
THERESA May last night warned Royal Mail it must do more to stop fraudsters targeting the elderly following a Daily Mail investigation.
She demanded urgent action to prevent conmen getting postal frauds into the homes of the most vulnerable.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘These are concerning revelations. Targeting some of the most vulnerable people in the country should not and will not be tolerated. There will be meetings with Royal Mail, other postal operators and the National Trading Standards scams team to ensure that this issue is tackled as a matter of urgency.’
Our investigations unit revealed yesterday that millions of fraudulent letters are being delivered into the UK in bulk through Royal Mail’s contract with Whistl – allowing the fraudsters to get the Royal Mail branding on their envelopes, which helps convince victims the letters are real.
Despite repeated warnings, Royal Mail has refused to crack down on the problem.
It can now be revealed that it has been delivering unregulated medicinal products in the UK for more than a decade.
The Office for Fair Trading warned in 2007 about a catalogue company behind the Vital Beauty, Vital Nature and Phyderma brands.
A court in Belgium ruled their publications illegal in 2011 and Royal Mail finally cancelled the contract earlier this year. But it is still delivering the catalogues under contract to Whistl. In other developments last night: Health regulators launched an investigation; Families said loved ones had spent thousands on the worthless pills;
Esther Rantzen accused Royal Mail of profiting from suffering;
Royal Mail insisted it was not a law enforcement agency and had a legal duty to deliver letters.
It is illegal to market and sell medicinal products in Britain without a licence from the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority. But despite this, catalogue firms have been operating through the Royal Mail for years – targeting unregulated medicines at vulnerable people.
Families said relatives had spent their life savings on useless remedies from numerous companies – thinking they could cure mobility problems and conditions such as cancer.
The horrified daughter of one victim told how she found her mother had got her scam health products mixed up with her real blood pressure tablets – putting her at serious risk.
One of the catalogues illegally advertising unlicensed health products is Vital Beauty, a company run by French multi-millionaire, Stephane Alech.
Its products include pills that promise to preserve eyesight and are claimed to be ‘clinically tested and backed by studies and data’. There are no warnings of any possible side effects.
Another product containing valerian root extract – to ‘ combat insomnia and nervousness’ – claims to have ‘ no side effects such as drowsiness, addiction and dependence’. In fact, drowsiness is a well- known side effect. Other illegal medicinal products advertised in the catalogue include pills claimed to stop memory loss, pills which are claimed to reduce joint pain and tablets claimed to ‘restore a flat stomach with no effort at all’. The MHRA said the Daily Mail had brought ‘new evidence to light suggesting unlicensed medicinal products may be being sold and supplied within the UK’.
A spokesman said its enforcement teams would now investigate whether any legal action could be taken against those supplying the pills. Last night Royal Mail said: ‘We take the Daily Mail’s allegations very seriously.
‘We understand the upset and disquiet that scam mail can cause. We will work with the postal services minister, all our industry partners and other industries to tackle scamming in an effective and coordinated way.’
The spokesman said Royal Mail had ‘terminated contracts with the Phyderma and Vital Nature brands Pr i n te d an d di s t r i b u te d by P ressReader Pr e s s R e a d e r. c o m +1 604 278 4604 • ORIGINAL COPY • ORIGINAL COPY • ORIGINAL COPY • ORIGINAL COPY • ORIGINAL COPY • ORIGINAL COPY • COPYR IG H T A N D P R OT EC T E D B Y A P P L I C A B L E LAW
in April 2016, as soon as we were asked to do so by the national trading standards scams team’.
The spokesman insisted they were ‘committed to terminating contracts with companies that distribute fraudulent mail as soon as we receive evidence from relevant law enforcement agencies’.
But he added: ‘We are not a law enforcement agency – we are a delivery company.’
A spokesman for Phyderma denied any wrongdoing and said the French courts had considered that their activities conform to European legislation.
‘We have lodged a complaint with the European Court concerning declarations and actions taken against us by British authorities and we will not be making any statement until we have received the decision of the court,’ he added.
A Whistl spokesman said the mailings were provided through an intermediary, adding: ‘We are in the process of stopping this mail being processed through our network. We have written formally to the intermediary to advise that we will not take mail from these brands or their parent company.’
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