Fake Foreign Health Supplement Livestreaming Scam: Repackaging ordinary food with forged certificates to target the elderly with 'miracle cures'

Who Gets Targeted

The primary victims are individuals aged 50 and above who are deeply anxious about their health. Lacking medical knowledge and the ability to verify product origins, they are easily swayed by pseudoscience and fake expert personas. They often lower their guard when faced with emotional manipulation from streamers and 'free gift' traps. Influenced by herd mentality and shills in the chat, they frequently mistake ordinary food for life-saving medicine, often spending their retirement savings to hoard these overpriced products.

骗局怎么运作

• Forging foreign brand endorsements and credentials: Scam rings use fake origins, forged customs import declarations, or fabricated overseas certification documents to repackage cheap, domestically manufactured food as high-end, imported health products. Streamers display these forged documents in livestreams, exploiting consumer trust in labels like 'Imported from Australia' to make exaggerated claims about miraculous health benefits, such as lowering blood sugar or anti-aging, to induce high-priced purchases.
• Building traffic and fake expert personas: Scammers mass-produce health-related content or videos highlighting common ailments on short-video platforms to attract followers, then funnel them into livestreams. Streamers often pose as senior nutritionists or health experts, wearing lab coats and displaying fake credentials, using professional-sounding jargon to explain pseudoscience. They claim their products contain special active ingredients that can 'clean out toxins from blood vessels,' precisely targeting anxious demographics.
• Private-domain retention and emotional brainwashing: Using small incentives like free eggs or health seminars as bait, streamers lure viewers into private WeChat groups. Inside these groups, shills are planted to pose as fellow patients sharing fake recovery stories. They build trust by acting like 'devoted children,' checking on the elderly daily and urging them to take their 'specialized supplements,' thereby bypassing platform oversight to push high-priced sales.
• Misleading consumers by selling ordinary food as miracle medicine: Cheap solid beverages or vitamin gummies are repackaged with labels claiming they are 'special supplies' or 'Nobel Prize-winning formulas.' Streamers intentionally blur the line between ordinary food and health supplements, illegally claiming therapeutic effects. They insist on camera that even if the label says 'beverage,' it is more effective than medicine, selling cheap goods for nearly 10,000 yuan.
• Evasion of regulation and post-sale avoidance: Streamers use coded language or physical gestures to avoid platform semantic filters when discussing efficacy. They require viewers to purchase through specific links or offline transfers, refusing to provide formal invoices. If a consumer discovers the product is ineffective and requests a refund, customer service deflects by claiming the product is food rather than medicine and takes time to work, or blames the user's constitution, eventually blocking the victim to complete the cycle of financial exploitation.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 The streamer displays credentials in the livestream or on their profile, but the certificate numbers cannot be verified on the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation, or the issuing body does not exist.
• 🚩 Products claimed to have disease prevention or treatment functions are actually labeled as ordinary food (e.g., solid beverages, pressed candies) rather than certified health supplements with the 'Blue Hat' logo.
• 🚩 Supposedly imported high-end health supplements lack clear customs declarations or inspection certificates, or the listed manufacturer is actually a domestic auto repair shop or an unknown small workshop.
• 🚩 The livestream uses free gifts like eggs or noodles to lure viewers into private groups, where they are then pressured to conduct transactions outside the platform via direct WeChat transfers or unknown links.
• 🚩 The group chat is flooded with accounts claiming the product cured various chronic diseases, and the group owner frequently sends voice messages to build emotional rapport while continuously pushing high-priced products.

真实案例

• In March 2026, Xinhua News reported that a livestreamer repackaged ordinary food as a miracle cure, claiming an 82-year-old could climb 17 floors with ease, while the actual product consisted of cheap ingredients. Regulators intervened, finding that the operator used private-domain livestreaming to target the elderly for massive profits; the accounts involved were shut down according to the law.
• In April 2026, the viral product 'Ausupreme' was exposed for fraudulent origin claims. According to Xinhua News, the product claimed to be imported from Australia, but thousands of yuan in sales were actually produced by a domestic auto repair shop. Multiple departments launched investigations and summoned three major platforms; the streamer involved became embroiled in a major controversy that drew widespread social attention.
• In August 2026, China Youth Daily reported that an agency repackaged ordinary food costing only 7 yuan as a 'specialized miracle cure,' selling it at high prices using fake expert certificates. The agency, 'Zhongbai Zhijia,' was found to have violated regulations by market supervisors, fined 500,000 yuan, and all related products were ordered to be removed from shelves.
• In April 2026, the Minhang District Market Supervision Bureau in Shanghai investigated six food business entities for false advertising in private-domain livestreams. These entities used WeChat groups and Tencent Meetings to falsely claim that two health supplements had therapeutic functions. The products were ordinary foods with no scientific basis for their health claims; the entities were ordered to cease illegal activities and were fined. (Source: https://www.163.com/dy/article/L426LA7E0511B8LM.html)
• In April 2026, CCTV and Xinhua News exposed the viral product 'Ausupreme' for fraudulent origin claims. The brand claimed to be imported from Australia but was produced domestically. Netizens who placed 8 orders on the Taobao 'Ausupreme' overseas flagship store spent a total of 6,440.57 yuan. The online store has since been closed, making it difficult for consumers to seek refunds. (Source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/health/20260403/72762de3dd1849f99a3f2fd44d9a85a8/c.html)

Official Stance

• In March 2026, the General Office of the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a notice on launching a special rectification campaign against false advertising in online food sales, demanding strict crackdowns on false claims and forged credentials in livestreams.
• In March 2026, Xinhua News, in collaboration with relevant departments, issued a warning report exposing 'miracle cure' livestreams, highlighting the phenomenon of targeting the elderly under the guise of health advice to sell cheap products at high prices.
• In April 2026, Xinhua News reported that multiple departments launched joint investigations into viral products with fraudulent origin claims, summoning three major platform companies and requiring them to strictly fulfill their auditing responsibilities.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ When buying health supplements, look for the state-approved 'Blue Hat' logo and verify the approval number on the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation. Refuse to buy so-called imported miracle cures that lack this logo or cannot be verified.
• ✅ Be wary of any ordinary food that promises disease treatment. Ordinary food packaging will not list health functions or therapeutic claims. If a streamer claims ordinary food can cure all diseases, take screenshots as evidence and report them to the platform.
• ✅ Firmly refuse any requests to conduct transactions outside of e-commerce platforms. Do not add unknown health consultants or group owners on WeChat, and do not click on suspicious purchase links they send. Protect your own finances.
• ✅ Remind elderly family members not to trust health seminars or livestreams that use free gifts or free travel as bait. Tell them that if they are ill, they should visit a legitimate hospital and never delay medical treatment by using ordinary food as a substitute for medicine.