site.btaRomanian Authorities Bust Fake Medicine Network with Warehouse in Bulgaria

An international fake-medicine and supplement network was dismantled by Romanian authorities and European partners, the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said on Thursday. Its central warehouse was in Bulgaria, and losses run to hundreds of millions of euro.

The network comprised Romanian and Bulgarian nationals, along with citizens of Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and Poland. Since 2019, they had sold products in several European Union countries, including Romania, marketed as natural supplements but with no actual effect on the body.

Investigators said the substances were marketed as miracle cures for serious cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes, cancer, prostate adenoma, psoriasis, obesity and other conditions. The group exploited victims’ urgent search for fast, effective treatment. Some victims stopped treatments prescribed by doctors.

Criminal proceedings have been launched in the case on charges of forming an organized crime group, fraud with particularly serious consequences, continuing computer fraud, money laundering and repeated tax evasion.

In Romania, investigators detained six defendants, while three were detained in Poland and 10 in the Republic of Moldova. Prosecutors said the group had a four-tier hierarchy and operated in a coordinated manner.

The products were sold through extensive networks of online sellers, who earned commissions based on sales volumes. They used fake social media accounts to promote the products, along with the names and images of real people known in Romania. Some network members posed as doctors in various specialties to persuade customers to buy the so-called supplements.

Prosecutors said that whenever a product began drawing complaints from customers who found their health was not improving, it was simply rebranded and put back on the market. The list of supplements sold by the organized crime group therefore ran to more than 400 names.

In Romania, 250,000 boxes of tablets and bottles containing various substances falsely advertised as food supplements or alternatives to medicines were seized. The average sale price was EUR 35 per item. A total of 196 websites used to promote and sell the products were blocked.