"Broken in pocket" because of gullibility and trust
More than a week has passed since joining the “Zero-dong Tour”. Now, looking at the products he bought, Mr. Bui Van Thanh (Kim Boi commune, Kim Boi district, Hoa Binh province) is still fed up and does not know how to deal with the functional food boxes advertised as “miracle drugs”.
In early December, he and some members of the commune's Veterans' Association received a phone call from the Executive Committee of the association, informing them that a unit had invited them to join a "0 VND Tour". Participants would be exempted from transportation, lunch and entrance fees. The planned itinerary would include a visit to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Vietnam Military Museum.
Thinking that there was a program to honor former youth volunteers on the occasion of the Vietnam People's Army Founding Day, Mr. Thanh and many others did not hesitate to agree.
However, returning from the one-day trip, the elders were all shocked, not understanding why they had to pay millions of dong to a company to receive "oh my god" products.
"We were picked up at the old Kim Tien Commune People's Committee headquarters (now Kim Boi Commune), then departed for Van Giang District, Hung Yen Province. That day, the entire district had nearly 30 29-seat vehicles departing at the same time" - a retired cadre over 70 years old opened the story with a series of products in hand.
According to Mr. Thanh, upon arrival, all the elderly were taken to a conference area and received a gift box of calming and detoxifying tea. Next, a series of products were put up for sale by the company representative with prices ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 VND. Strangely, when customers finished buying, they were all refunded.
Waiting until the "fish has bitten the bait", the elderly start to get excited with the "buy and return" trick, other products are introduced with increasing value along with many attractive promotions and the guarantee that the product is a "cure-all" and "very necessary for the elderly" leading the participants to gradually "fall into the net".
From a box of 60 calcium pills, buy 1, get 1 free at 1.3 million VND/2 boxes to brain tonics, blood fat support, diabetes support, sedative tea, and health products, all are sold at "sky-high" prices.
"Many people don't even have enough money to buy them, so they encourage the elderly to borrow money from each other to buy them because otherwise they will miss out on the "deal". Many elderly people spend all their money on the purchase, to the point that when they return home, they don't have enough tens of thousands of dong left to buy candy as gifts for their grandchildren at home," Mr. Thanh said indignantly.
However, when bringing the product bag home, many families checked the information online and were shocked to discover the harsh truth.
A box of calcium is advertised at 1 million VND/box, buying 2 boxes for only 1.3 million VND/2 boxes is only 300,000 VND/box. The remaining products such as ginseng, Omega or Philatop do not have reliable information about their origin or brand.
Old tricks, new victims
It is worth mentioning that, through the investigation of the reporter, in order to attract and entice a large number of elderly people to participate in the zero-dong tour, there seems to have been a very close connection between the leaders of a number of associations and organizations in the localities.
On December 16, speaking to reporters, Captain Bui Duy Tuyen - Head of Kim Boi Commune Police, Kim Boi District - said that after a period of calm, the "Zero-VND Tour" situation has recently recurred. The victims are mainly the elderly and retirees, who are easily lured and continue to "fall into the trap".
According to the Chief of Police of Kim Boi Commune, the police force has sent security forces to the grassroots to propagate to people to be vigilant with any type of zero-dong promotional items, lottery, and lucky draw to avoid "losing money and getting sick".
