Free health assessment – potential scam
I often receive desperate pleas for help, typically from elderly people. They are invited to a free “health assessment.” After a few minutes of “testing,” they are told very alarming results that put them almost into shock. Taking advantage of this, they are then persuaded — at very high prices — to buy a “miracle device” that supposedly cures everything. In their panic they cannot evaluate the situation, but later at home — with a cooler head — they realize they’ve been defrauded of hundreds of thousands of forints. What can you do? My article is based on real events.
Two stories
The first
“They called me and invited me for an arteriograph examination. I went. It turned out they were not using an arteriograph but a 3D NLS device.
The examination lasted about 5–10 minutes, then they put in front of me a test result that frightened me greatly.
They persuaded me to buy the BALANCE MAG‑R device. In my despair I bought it for 275,000 forints.”
“At home I read up on what diseases it was supposed to cure. I realized the device is unsuitable for treating high blood pressure, diabetes, aortic or carotid atherosclerosis, coronary artery calcification or cerebral vessel calcification. I feel I was thoroughly cheated.”
The second
“My elderly uncle found a Facebook ad: free full health assessment for couples. He made an appointment and went with his wife to the Budapest center, which really looked like a busy medical practice.
First came the “test.” They clipped a “special clamp” to their earlobes for five minutes. After a short wait they printed the results in a second room. A few pages with anatomical diagrams of every organ, full of colorful indicators.
Then they escorted them to a third room, where a man in a white coat who looked like a doctor met them. He gave an analysis lasting more than an hour, outlining serious problems.
My uncle was fairly skeptical. The salesperson playing the role of doctor, however, was a consummate professional. He quickly and precisely gauged the “power dynamics.” He sensed my uncle would not buy, but his wife was terrified. The “doctor” began to blackmail my uncle, saying that even if he didn’t care about his own life, he should think about his wife’s health…
Fortunately I had called them the night before. I made them promise that no matter what happens they would not buy on the spot. Despite extremely strong pressure, they returned home without the “only‑for‑you‑only‑now” 600,000 quantum‑resonance miracle device. The next day I was with them when they received a call telling them the device will be more expensive tomorrow, but if they order it today they can still have it for 600,000.”
A sales model designed for scamming!
Some companies have set up specifically to deceive and rip off elderly people. They call older people by phone or attract them with online ads to a free “full examination.”
In Hungary the public healthcare system can invite you for free only for chest X‑ray screening, mammography or colorectal cancer screening. If a non‑state healthcare provider invites you for an examination, it means a business is doing it. And a business certainly doesn’t work for free. When you go into a shop they don’t give things away for free, and a repairman doesn’t fix things without pay.
So you should already be suspicious when you hear the expression “free health assessment”!!!
How they push you to buy
If you don’t know about this and innocently attend such a test, you will never be examined thoroughly. They’ll seat you on a chair, at most lay you on a bed. They will stick a few electrodes on your skin or clip a “measuring instrument” to your ear.
A device placed on a table will flash as it “measures.” The examination itself takes only a few minutes.
But this is only part of the theatrical performance intended to fool you. During the measurement the examiner will shake their head and act horrified, but say nothing.
Soon the “report” is ready. They hand you a multi‑page document packed with colored anatomical diagrams of every organ and body part. A mass of colorful marks is visible on them.
After a bit of tension‑building waiting, they finally lead you to the “doctor.” The polished salesperson is not actually a doctor. He is playing a role. What he tells you sounds very scientific and terrifying. As a layperson you don’t dare to challenge it.
He may describe the magnitude of the problem for up to an hour. Gradually he paints a vision of imminent suffering and death.
After a while you may feel it’s the end and you will never see your family, children or grandchildren again.
Presenting a solution
Seeing you panic, they then offer a supposedly hypermodern device that will cure all problems. At first they mention a price around 700,000–800,000 forints.
Terrified by the imagined diseases, you panic. Adrenaline floods your body, so you can’t think logically; your awareness narrows and you see the offered device as the only way out.
But because the price is high you remain hesitant.
So the “doctor” starts probing or begins to pressure your partner. Sometimes, “showing sympathy,” he lowers the price. He tries to find an amount you are willing to pay immediately. The final price can even drop to 150,000–200,000 forints.
It’s important that they keep up such pressure the whole time that you are unable to reflect and weigh your options.
You don’t even think to ask a relative or friend for advice. If you try, the “doctor” will snap at you saying he doesn’t have time for that; if you don’t want help, he’ll find someone else who will. But he continues to “soften you up” to close the sale.
If you don’t buy on the spot, they will call you later, harass you and bombard you with offers. After all, you gave them your contact details voluntarily.
When icy terror really hits
Many people only “come to” when they receive the product they ordered.
Already at unboxing it becomes clear the product is cheap and shoddy. So you start to investigate the “test” results and the device you received.
The feeling of being cheated slowly washes over you. It starts as a shiver in your toes but by the time it reaches your chest it feels like an icy, freezing grip.
The test reports are lies, prewritten.
What kind of product do you get?
For devices provided by these scam companies it is 99% true that:
- it’s a cheap Chinese junk anyone can buy on Alibaba for $20–50 (that is, for around 10–20,000 forints),
- the device lacks medical certification for treating diseases,
- its effect is not medically proven but claimed to work by some alternative, unproven method, such as “quantum energy” or “terahertz” technology or similar.
One storyteller sent me a link. They tried to hawk a product to them. Some devices are offered for as much as €4,999 (about 2 million forints).
I did a bit of detective work! It wasn’t hard — in 2–3 minutes I found the products on Alibaba, cheap Chinese junk in online stores.
The device scammers offer for as much as two million forints can be ordered by you for $6, roughly 2,500 forints.
Do you see how big a scam this is?
What can you do?
You can only prevent such an event!
- In Hungary the public healthcare system can invite you for free only for chest X‑ray screening, mammography or colorectal cancer screening!
If a non‑state healthcare provider invites you for an examination, a business is doing it. And a business certainly doesn’t work for free. When you go into a shop they don’t give anything away for free, and a repairman doesn’t fix things without pay.
So if you are invited for a “free” health assessment, in 99% of cases you are dealing with a scam company.
Don’t go. - If you do go, under no circumstances buy on the spot!
The right of withdrawal does not apply to on‑the‑spot purchases! That is, if you buy there, you cannot return it or request a refund. - If you went and decide to purchase anyway, always ask for an invoice. The company details on the invoice, including the tax number, allow you to trace the company.
- In the European Union (including our country) a device may be marketed as having health effects only if it has the so‑called CE Declaration of Conformity.
There are presently two forms of this: an older, lower‑level one under the MDD (Medical Device Directive) and a newer, higher‑level one under the MDR (Medical Device Regulation).
Today it is still acceptable if a device has either of these, but soon only the MDR will be accepted.
To prove a product is a medical device, the seller must show the EC Declaration of Conformity for that product. - The declaration should state that the device complies with the medical devices recommendation 93/42/EEC (that is, the MDD) or with Regulation 2017/745/EU (that is, the MDR).
Scam companies’ products are typically not medical devices, so they cannot show you paperwork complying with either the MDD or the MDR.
They often show some certificate, but an electrical safety certificate only proves that the device won’t give you a lethal electric shock during use — nothing about medical effectiveness…
If the shown certificate does not explicitly reference compliance with 93/42/EEC or Regulation 2017/745/EU, it means the product is not a medical device and it is prohibited to market it for health purposes throughout the EU.
Do not buy it!
If despite my advice you still buy… that’s called tuition fee. You have become a member of the group of the deceived.
Don’t let it happen!
