Oslo Health Solutions: Preying On The Sick Part III

I'm kind of sick talking about these people by now, to be honest with you. I have devoted hours and hours of rather nauseating research to Oslo Health Solutions and their claims. There are many, many more hours of work that could be done; -just on the Internet alone, before one starts on private and other channels, but I don't have the resources for it, financially,  physically or spiritually.

But there are two areas I do want to explore:  How people like this might think, because it seems to me,  their thought processes are very different than us trusting honest normal people. Maybe getting into their brains a little will help us to beware of others of their ilk.

And I also want to let you know how you can fight back; against people like this in general and against Oslo Health Solutions (OHS) in particular.  Because let's face it: Oslo Health Solutions run a pretty despicable operation and they need to be stopped.  Now.

So how do they think they can get away with it?  I have thought about this and I think I figured out a few um ....principles for Internet fraud.

1. Lie Big:
   It is a concept con-men have down cold, but one that most decent people can't get their heads around:  If you are going to lie to people: Lie big. Don't bend or massage the truth.  People are expecting that. Most normal people lie small, They exaggerate or use words like "almost" or "virtual".  But the truth is usually somewhere underneath. People expect this and watch out for exaggerations and small lies. People generally don't expect a lie to be totally bald-faced and to have no relation to the truth. Therefore we see the grandiose claims OHS make and we expect there is some truth to them. This is why OHS were so smart in their pitch. They understood this and therefore they sold so high, but delivered so low, they seem to have flown right underneath most radars.  
    
2. Divide and Conquer: 
   People with specific illnesses don't generally go looking for herbal treatments for other illnesses, so if one product was exposed as a fraud, then it is just that one out of ...what?  ...about 60 now that I have found?... I figure OHS simply dump the product that was exposed, find a new disease, re-brand the website and labels as "new disease-Tab" and then carry on selling the exact same product to a different market.
   
   I guess OHS didn't expect anyone to search on more than one or two of the diseases they cover. The must have figured that chances that someone would work out that they are selling  the same list of ingredients as  a completely guaranteed and clinically proven herbal treatment for up to nineteen (19) different conditions, from teething troubles to Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), which is generally fatal within two years of diagnosis (Elizabeth at Screw Bronze! has MSA. Read her blog if you want some graphic descriptions of what it does to one .... and   -Quick! give her some shallots and Red Earth!  That'll be bound to cure her...)
   
   
3. Avoid well-organized groups:
   There is No MS-Tab, no Breast Cancer-Tab, no Autism or Aspie-Tab, no Alzheimer's-Tab and I think there is a very good reason for this. It is probably the same reason Cardio-tab no longer exists:  These conditions are highly public and have well-populated organizations and lots of support groups surrounding them, the jig would be up pretty quickly with most of these conditions. -I was actually surprised to find MD-tab, Leukotab and Parkotab, as they are also quite well organized too.  
    
4. Use the Global Market to confuse your  umm... "customers":
   If you set up shop based out of a small, little understood country in Scandinavia, then ship your product from Pakistan, most normal sick people won't be able to figure out how to take action against you from halfway around the world... 
   
   But keep reading.  I have found a fair bit of information on this.

I have two imaginary scenarios for who could be behind Oslo Health Solutions:  In the first one, it is a couple of teenagers, now young men, who started it as little more than a lark out of someone's bedroom, not fully comprehending the real lives that could be effected behind the illness they researched on-line to create new markets for a Pakistani Hemorrhoid preparation.

It the other scenario, it was started very deliberately by adults who have no regard for others, knew exactly what they were doing and are in this game to make money, not caring at all who gets hurt in the process.

Regardless, it is wrong.

Several people asked me, both in comments and through other channels, if we could inform the FDA about this. I don't think the FDA has any interest, as natural remedies and herbal supplements are not very regulated here in the US. However, they might be interested to investigate if they thought Americans were being sold Strychnine as a supposed cure for Parkinson's disease.   I will look into this.

However, FDA aside (for now), the Norwegian government DOES regulate (and tax!) natural remedies. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Norwegian Medicines Agency, and they have an English version of their website, and of their contacts page (how cool is that?), complete with e-mail addresses, so you can send the links directly. I love Scandinavian efficiency!

Now, I suspect that Oslo Health Solutions are trying to get around some of the European laws and regulations governing sales of herbal remedies as well as false advertising laws by manufacturing and shipping their product from Pakistan. 

However, Pakistan now has the Electronic Transaction Ordinance (2002) which protect consumers in electronic commercial transactions, such as buying poison from Pakistan. More interestingly, there is the 2007 Electronic Crime Ordinance which has this interesting clause, potentially punishable by death:

17. Cyber terrorism. -

a. Any person, group or organization who, with terroristic intent utilizes, accesses or causes to be accessed a computer or computer network or electronic system or electronic device or by any available means, and thereby knowingly engages in or attempts to engage in a terroristic act commits the offence of cyber terrorism.

Explanation1: For the purposes of this section the expression “terroristic intent” means to act with the purpose to alarm, frighten, disrupt, harm, damage, or carry out an act of violence against any segment of the population, the Government or entity associated therewith...."

Do you think that selling Strychnine to Parkinson's patients over the Internet could be interpreted as "Intent to harm, damage or carry an act of violence against a segment of the population..." (what we in America would call a hate crime)?  I think it could be.  

Interesting stuff, eh? 

Now: Of the sites I investigated (and I have to admit that a few, such as Inisitab, and Abdotab were late additions to the party) the vast majority claimed to be run our of Norway, from this address:

Oslo Health Solutions

Oslo Health Solutions
Suite 329
Youngstorget
NO-0028 Olso
Norway

There are a few exceptions, Some had no address whatsoever, but when you click on the "order now" , button, it comes up as Oslo Health Solutions. These included Raynotab, Guillatab, Clearotab,

...and a few products seemed to be run out of the UK, from corporations (...or are they? "Inc" is not a UK corporation suffix  "Ltd" or "plc" are the norm over there.  ...Hmmmm.)  supposedly operating over there.  Note the addresses are all exactly the same.

Vertigo Tab Inc
Suite 10 & 11
Siddeley House
50 Canbury Park Road
Kingston Upon Thames
Surrey - KT2 6LX
UK

Anemia Tab Inc
Suite 10 & 11
Siddeley House
50 Canbury Park Road
Kingston Upon Thames
Surrey - KT2 6LX
UK

Psoriasis Tab Inc
Suite 10 & 11
Siddeley House
50 Canbury Park Road
Kingston Upon Thames
Surrey - KT2 6LX
UK

Vitiligo Tab was the one which had buried its tracks particularly well. No address, no telltale "Oslo Health Solutions" banner on the order form. The Web site was registered to a "Charls Dickens" (sic)  of

Berkeley Square House,
W1J 6BD
London,  W1J 6BD
United Kingdom

In the UK, companies making false claims over the Internet are regulated by  The Trading Standards Institute.  Vitigilo tab is claiming that "Vitiligo Tab is our 100% guaranteed and clinically proven permanent cure for Vitiligo" (my emphasis). Psoriasis Tab and Vertigo Tab also claim a "100% cure", whereas Anemia Tab claims a "completely guaranteed and clinically proven herbal treatment for Anemia".  Are these false claims?  I dunno, but I think they should be investigated by the appropriate parties.

So what you do is this: You go to their site and enter the postcode

for the guys against whom you wish to complain, which is KT2 6LX  or W1J 6BD (for Charls Dickens) and you follow the instructions from there.

Little people can fight back, you know. We just need to get the right muscle on our side.

Comments

[elizabeth]

Also, if anyone is in Cardiff, there is Company House, which is where all companies in the UK have to be registered, so regardless of the names, you can trace the companies to the original owner or person who filed them. I don't know if that will help you find out if this is all a big scam (yes!) or not but I think that it is a good way to gather clear evidence to present to the trading standards. Another option is to seek out the lawyers that are used by the...er...ug....in the black space in my brain - where people go when they want to find out stuff, like town counsel or help but run by volunteers - sorry, it is gone, I can see it, I can't name it - they will pursue with lawyers if needed, as many towns have lawyers (Bristol has several) with the offices - open to anyone, just come in and take a number - that these people are preying on you or have or are trying to take your money. They can tell you where to find good ways to take them down or take them down for you. I am sorry OSM, I really don't have the words in my head anymore. I will ask Linda and come back.

[David Byrden]

50 Canbury Park Road appears to be a crappy 50-year-old commercial building where you could rent an office for not very much money.
Or maybe just a mail collection box. I wonder if anybody at that address is leasing out mailboxes.
Pictures:
http://tiger1.info/pictures/can1.jpg
http://tiger1.info/pictures/can3.jpg

[Wally Brown]

I had ordered a natural polyp cure from them – I already placed the credit card order and then looked up the company name on the internet and found your website. How interesting!

They slip through any FDA procedures because the are herbal. They call it Colotab and you can search that name to get their web page up.

The processing is through CCNow and there was a way to cancel the order which I did, quoting your claim that the company is fraudulent. I am also contacting my credit card company to be sure it is cancelled. Thank you for the heads up!

[Kathryn]

Hi, I just posted on Part1, now having read II and III, I have a little more to offer perhaps. Firstly my particular "tab" was ganglitab - not original with their names are they?! On the email confirmation from CCNOW is this declaration - "These goods, technology or software were exported from the
United States in accordance with all applicable U.S. laws and regulations." So not from scandinavia then. I too cancelled through CCNOW giving the reason that I believed the company to be fraudulent. I then used the "contact us" facility to emphasise this. If I come up with anything else I'll post again.

[One Sick Mother]

Kathryn.

Interesting! I wonder if the FDA agrees with OHS's little disclaimer statement?

Thanks for bring a new one to my attention. I had not heard of ganglitab, but it the ingredient list looked familiar and sure enough: It is identical in its components to hemorotab. http://www.hemorotab.com/about_tab.html

I guess if you have both ganglia and hemorrhoids, you could kill two birds with one (semi-precious) stone?

Seriously, if you have ganglion cysts,
-especially if they are painful, you should see a surgeon for the appropriate body part(s). I had a ganglion cyst in my wrist, which I lived with for 12 years, until one day, when Joe was 7 months old, I almost dropped him. My wrist just gave out. I had the wrist seen to by a hand surgeon. Turns out the ganglion cyst was like an iceberg. The visible lump was only about 7% of the actual cyst. The other 93% had insinuated itself through all the bones of my wrist. The surgeon said it was only a matter of time before I lost use of the hand altogether.

Before I sought surgical treatment, I was told all sorts of nonsense about the cyst, like it was "harmless" to "live with it" or to "hit it with a book" -told this by a board-certified MD! (...tried the latter. OUCH!).

Please do let me know if you get your money back.

OSM

[Isabelle]

Hello,

I found their product through a comparison of alternative treatments sponsored by:
The Society for the Promotion of Alternative Health (SPAH)
Suite 401, 302 Regent Street, London W1B 3HH, United Kingdom

Are they in on it?

Thank you. MAC Most Annoyed Customer

[One Sick Mother]

Isabelle,

Yes. They are totally in on it.
http://onesickmother.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/07/spah-the-medical-scam-clearinghouse.html

Links to other scams are available under the "scams" section on the left-hand side of this blog.

OSM

[Norwegian]

I am sure that the Oslo address is completely fake. I know Youngstorget very well and there are many separate addresses on that square and no suites.

The name of the company and the address are almost certainly as fake as the products they sell.

[One Sick Mother]

Norwegian,

Next time you pass the mail Boxes Etc on Youngstorget, wave to OHS from me. The "Suite No" is actually a PO box number.

http://www.mbe.no/index.asp?chp=Butikker

OSM

[joey king]

I ordered the utirno tab- came in 3 weeks from Pakistan- I emailed them told them this is garbage, and that I am taking it to a lab, also the better business bureau, and the FDA. Got my cash back the next day. Pills will be checked in lab ASAP?

[Lim]

Joey

Did they just send the money back to you? I have just wrote to them about the rubbish they sent. Hoping for a reply soon.

Thanks.