Health and wellness gurus’ scams usually target vulnerable groups such as the less educated, recent immigrants, and young people. If you have school-age children, it is time to discuss important topics such as scam and fraud, pseudoscience, and money matters.
Health Scams
Health and wellness scams aim to sell products and services that presumably cure, treat, and prevent diseases and disorders but are not shown to be effective or safe. The problem is that health scams waste money and the products offered may be harmful for health. They can lead to complications and delays in treatment and diagnosis, which can result in serious injuries. Cons often advertise miracle drugs that can cure pretty much anything, making ache and pain disappear. When you read statements like “I lost 50 pounds in one week with this product” or “This product cured my cancer in 
just 5 days”, this is obviously a health scam. Gurus offer hope and miracle cures but they aren’t such.
Why Health and Wellness Scams Are So Dangerous
The problem with this type of scam is the fact that you can sell products in many different ways – newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, and online, to name a few. Actors play patients and doctors on advertisements and infomercials. Customers are invited to sign up for newsletters and often get an email advertising a product or service. Con artists do this as well. Health and wellness gurus’ scams are also dangerous when people are tempted to borrow to buy a certain product and gradually fall into a debt spiral. Debt-ridden borrowers are often unable to keep up with multiple payments, and their credit scores plummet as a result. Bad credit means a more limited access to financial products and loans in particular. In case of emergency, borrowers with bad credit may see their loan applications turned down. This means that if you need urgent cash, you may be forced to resort to bad credit and payday lenders that charge extremely high fees for a short-term loan. This results in even more debt and high charges to repay. The problem with excessive debt is that borrowers face a difficult dilemma – whether to try and sort their finances by themselves or use the services of a financial advisor. Self money management works only if you have good financial discipline, however. Otherwise, there are alternatives to consider, for example, debt consolidation and credit counseling. Negotiating with creditors is another option to pay less than the full amount or reduce the interest rate. There are other options to look into, including formal proposal to creditors and debt restructuring. Taking no action is the worst choice you can make because late and missed payments result in rate hike-ups and penalty charges. Then there is the option to declare bankruptcy but finance experts usually advice against it because bankruptcy is a last resort.
Individual voluntary arrangement is yet another option whereby the borrower agrees to a formal repayment arrangement over a period of 5 years. In any case, excessive debt is a burden to avoid because large outstanding balances might lead to foreclosure, repossessions, and bankruptcy. Health and wellness gurus’ scams can cost you dearly and give false hopes. Con artists advertise products that appear painless, quick, and effective but they are worthless and waste time and money. In many cases, health scams prevent people from getting adequate treatment and get worse. Whether memory aids, cancer cures, or anti-aging therapies, treatments are either worthless or dangerous or both.
How to Make Educated Decisions
Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY)(NYSE:RY) is the largest Canadian bank by market value, but is far from the only bank in the nation’s financial system. And while the bank’s shares have been relatively quiet of late, there are a number of other banks and investment firms that are faring far worse than the big bank in the wake of the economic crisis caused by idiotic Covid lockdowns. Many stores have been affected negatively and Hudson Bay is one of them.
