HSA removes over 3,000 illegal health product listings online

Eight platforms take part in operation that sees over 1,470 warnings issued to sellers

- Ian Cheng

The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has removed more than 3,000 illegal health product listings from local e-commerce and social media platforms in a bid to clamp down on the illegal sale and supply of such products.

In what the HSA described in a Nov 27 statement as a "first-of-its-kind large-scale collaboration with online platform administrators", a total of 3,336 illegal health product listings were removed.

The authority also issued 1,471 warnings to sellers during the operation that took place from Sept 23 to Oct 23.

The eight platforms that participated in the operation were Amazon Singapore, Carousell, eBay Singapore, Facebook, Lazada, Qoo10, Shopee and TikTok.

"The joint operation to clamp down on the illegal sale and supply of health products sold online illustrates HSA's commitment to protect consumers from products which are substandard or counterfeit. These products may be unsafe and carry a significant risk of harm," said HSA, urging the public to report any illegal, fake or suspicious health products to them.

In September, a 32-year-old man was fined $266,500 after being convicted of possessing and supplying 126 types of cosmetic products that were found to be counterfeit - the largest fine ever imposed for selling counterfeit cosmetic products, said HSA.

He had intended to sell these counterfeit cosmetic products through multiple accounts he had created on Lazada.