International network selling fake treatments for serious illnesses, dismantled by DIICOT

Romanian authorities, together with European partners, announced the dismantling of an international organized crime network, made up of Romanian, Moldovan, Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian, and Polish citizens, which since 2019 has been selling ineffective natural supplements in the European Union, including Romania.

DIICOT conducted 41 searches and detained six defendants in Romania, while other individuals are being investigated in Poland and Moldova. The charges include forming an organized criminal group, fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion, with an estimated damage of 371 million lei (approximately 107 million euros). The network marketed fake products as treatments for serious illnesses, misleading patients who were abandoning treatments prescribed by doctors. Authorities have blocked 196 websites and seized 250,000 boxes of fraudulent products.

International cooperation involved authorities from several European states, including the United Kingdom and Italy.