NBC-TV's Dateline Seeking Quackery Victims. LOL Please e-mail Dateline's Consumer Alert staff or call (202) 2885-5100 for more information or to tell us your story. All information will be kept confidential unless you agree that NBC may use it.
quackwatch.org
NBC-TV's Dateline Seeking Quackery Victims
Where to Complain or Seek Help
©2003 Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Problem Agencies to Contact*
False advertising FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection or regional office
National Advertising Division, Council of Better Business Bureaus
Editor or manager of media outlet where ad appeared
Product marketed with false or misleading claims**
National or regional FDA office
FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (Internet products)
State attorney general
Consumer Broadcast Group
State health department
Local Better Business Bureau
Congressional representatives
Bogus mail-order promotion Chief Postal Inspector,
U.S. Postal Service Regional Postal Inspector
State attorney general
Bogus product purchased with credit card As soon as your credit care statement comes, ask the credit card company for instructions on how to get the charge reversed.
Adverse reaction to an herbal product or dietary supplement FDA Special Nutritionals Adverse Event Monitoring System
Dubious telemarketing State attorney general
FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection or regional office
National Fraud Information Center web site or hotline
Improper treatment by licensed practitioner Local or state professional society (if practitioner is a member)
Local hospital (if practitioner is a staff member)
State professional licensing board
National Council Against Health Fraud Task Force on Victim Redress
Quackwatch
Improper treatment by unlicensed individual Local district attorney
State attorney general
National Council Against Health Fraud Task Force on Victim Redress
Consumer Braodcast Group
Advice needed about questionable product or service National Council Against Health Fraud
Consumer Health Information Research Institute
Local, state, or national professional or voluntary health groups
Medicare or Medicaid fraud HHS Office of the Inspector General hotline
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) field ofice
Internet-related consumer problem Cybercop
Consumer Broadcast Group
FDA
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Internet Fraud Complaint Center
Webguardian
Junk e-mail, including health-
related scams and chain letters FTC's e-mailbox
Consumer Broadcast Group
Complaint, praise, or suggestion for legitimate company PlanetFeedback
*Where more than one agency might be appropriate, contact all of them.
**Quackwatch would like to locate people who have purchased a homeopathic or product within the past year and concluded that the product did not work as represented on packaging or in any advertisement. Please contact us if you have had such an experience.
Where to Contact
Consumer Broadcast Group: Online resource center for aggrieved consumers
FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, Washington, DC 20580. Tel. (202) 326-2222.
National Advertising Division, Council of Better Business Bureaus, 845 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022. Tel. (212) 753-1358.
FDA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857. Tel. (301) 295-8024.
FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, HFD-314, 7520 Standish Place, Rockville, MD 20855. Tel. (301) 827-8931. Email: otcfraud@cder.fda.gov
Chief Postal Inspector, U.S. Postal Service, Washington, DC 20260. Tel. (202) 268-4267.
Consumer Health Information Resource Institute, 300 E. Pinkhill Road, Independence, MO 64050. Tel. (816) 228- 4595
Cybercops
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20535.
Internet Fraud Complaint Center
National Council Against Health Fraud
Headquarters: P.O. Box 1276, Loma Linda, CA 92354. Tel. (909) 824-4690.
Task Force on Victim Redress, P.O. Box 1747, Allentown, PA 18105. Tel. (610) 437-1795.
National Fraud Information Center, P.O. Box 65868, Washington, DC 20035. Tel. (800) 876-7060.
Office of the Inspector General (OIG) TIPS Hotline, P.O. Box 23489, Washington, DC 20026. Tel. (800) 447-8477
Quackwatch, P.O. Box 1747, Allentown, PA 18105. Tel. (610) 437-1795.
For local or regional offices of federal agencies consult the telephone directory under U.S. Government.
Agencies in Other Countries
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)
Other Agencies
NBC-TV's Dateline Seeking Quackery Victims
What's been your experience when seeking medical/health information online?
National newsmagazine DATELINE NBC would like to talk to you. If you have used the Internet to find medical/health information, or ordered a health product on-line, and feel you were led astray, DATELINE wants to know about it.
Please e-mail Dateline's Consumer Alert staff or call (202) 2885-5100 for more information or to tell us your story. All information will be kept confidential unless you agree that NBC may use it. |
