Healthcare sham is back
Souza Healthcare was a cold-calling gang operating out of Goa and Mumbai, India, preying on the elderly and vulnerable in the UK, flogging overpriced and useless supposed remedies.
“Victims are paying a lot and get nothing in return,” said Business Minister Margot James last December when this sham was put into compulsory liquidation in the High Court in the public interest.
But that wasn’t the end of the scam. A reader tells me that cold callers recently persuaded her to buy a box of tablets called ArticarePlus, supposedly to help with joint pain, for £250.
Not only is this outrageously expensive, these tablets are not recognised by the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
What’s more, the tablets were emblazoned with a familiar old name – Souza Healthcare. The invoice came in the name of Lifeline Wellbeing Ltd and gave an address in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, while its website claims they’re based in Manchester. You won’t find them in either place. When I phoned and asked the simple question – what is their real office address – I got a very cagey response. First they wanted to know who I was, then why I wanted that information, and then they tried to palm me off with the Manchester address before finally conceding that they are really based in India, just as Souza Healthcare was. Even then they refused to give the full postal address. When I asked why they were selling products made by the notorious Souza Healthcare, I was told: “I do not have the information about this.” So I asked if I could be transferred to one of the two directors, Abdullah Abubakar or Godly Varughese, only to get the one word reply: “No.”