Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

Anyone heard of the vaccine scam?

Quote: Syndicate selling fake vaccine busted, 30 held

KUALA LUMPUR: A syndicate selling fake cow vaccine to local businessmen was smashed following the arrest of 30 people, including 28 South Africans.

The syndicate, which had cheated at least three businessmen of about RM1mil, claimed to have produced a revolutionary vaccine called "Thermacyin XP 1000" that would make cattle healthy and free from disease.

Federal Commercial Crime Department head Comm Datuk Ramli Yusuff said the scam came to light after the businessmen, who had each bought 800 bottles of the "vaccine", lodged reports early this month.

Comm Ramli said the victims were introduced to the "vaccine" via e-mail. A syndicate member would then pose as a veterinary doctor from London and pretend to be interested in the "vaccine."

"Using an overseas pre-paid line, the man would contact the victim and meet him at a five star hotel. He would offer to buy the "vaccine" at double the price and show his victim bundles of US dollar notes, which were actually fake," Comm Ramli told a press conference at the department's headquarters in Bukit Perdana here yesterday.

"The victim would then contact the syndicate to buy the vaccine and pay the money. The victim would only realise he had been duped when he returned to the hotel to find that the 'doctor' had gone missing."

Comm Ramli said police conducted several raids on apartments throughout the Klang Valley last week and arrested the foreigners and two locals.

They seized 800 bottles of the "vaccine", fake documents, 13 personal computers, three laptops, five scanners and more than 100 sticker labels.

"We have sent the bottles to the Chemistry Department for tests to establish the contents," said Comm Ramli.

He urged anyone with information on any scam to contact the Rakan Cop Hotline at 03-2115 9999 or send an SMS to 32728 or contact the nearest police station.
Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/7/29/nation/14990403&sec=nation

Dr csh · Joined: 21 Jan 2006 Posts: 425

Sigh..... It is really sad that people go through such lengths to scam others. Of course it usually takes a gullible or dishonest person to fall for the simple tricks but elaborate scams such as this would ~censored~ most people. It saddens me that they use Vets as pretences to gain the trust of the people. We vets have worked very hard to establish a professional and dependable image to the people and it hurts our reputation even though those crooks were not actual vets...

Key things to remember. When it comes to animal health, Talk to a vet and they can probably guide you through the basic vaccines that will help your animals be it pets or livestock. After you have properly administered those core vaccines, the rest is management. There is no magic dust or super vaccine that will fix your problems if you already have a suitable vaccination protocol in place. A classic example is a farm where the farmer insist that there is a mystery "super bug" and asked the University to figure it out because we are the so-called experts. There has been 20% mortality in his cows who die from a variety of signs. When we get there, the farm is a mess, cows were up to the ankles in manure, bad stall designs, dysmal calf rearing facilities, and poor feed management. There was no "super-bug" or mystery disease... Most of the time, the key to improving a bad farm is to follow basic management protocols. Sadly nobody wants to admit they are bad farmers or pet owner and blame it on something else. A diabetic cat is usually from the owners letting their cat be too fat, Heartworm is from not not controlling the mosquitoes and not putting the dog on preventatives, Calf pneumonia is usually from poor ventilation and nose-to-nose contact..... Sure there is ebola and anthrax but how many animals die from that compared to management errors? If the management is already excellent then you can consider the fancy stuff... don't expect Choline to increase milk production if you have a bulk tank somatic cell count of 800,000. Fix the Basic, there is no magic drug. believing it will get you scammed.

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

Actually, I remember recieving an email from these people about buying this so-called "vaccine". The email does sound tempting at first, but then it does smell like spam email too. Too bad I deleted it already, or else I could post it up here for you guys to read.

Dr lohtk · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 14

It is shocking these "vaccines" can be brought into the country without detection. If they can do this, they can also bring in diseases as well.

It is interesting to know which company or local persons were involved in this business such that all vets/farmers can take precaution to prevent being cheated in future.

Also our authority should have a list of permitted animal vaccines and medications for used in our country as a check list to overcome unauthorised products being dumped into the country. Such list should be published and updated regularly such that all vets can be aware that they are not using illegal products in their practices out of ignorance. Such list of approved vaccines/medication is long overdue for the proper development of the pet / animal industry in Malaysia.

Dr csh · Joined: 21 Jan 2006 Posts: 425

I agree that the list of approved vaccines, the manufacturer's recommended protocol, and a picture of the vaccines should be readily available to protect the producers. It is also important for this information to be accessible for producers and veterinarians.

wslmiaw · Joined: 01 Sep 2006 Posts: 12

I am talking a seller of the vaccine. Anyone could help me to catch them?

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

Contact the cops!!

Dr lohtk · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 14

If it is referring to animal vaccines, you may also contact DVS on this matter.

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

I cant believe they are still trying this scam after its been found out and even pubished in the newspapers.

I guess there are too many ignorant people out there.