The Swedish Consumer Agency and ARN have received hundreds of reports regarding a website that markets health checks.
TV4 Nyheterna, which was the first to report on the website that goes by the name bedomahalsa.com, writes about a Swedish man who received a bill of 900 kroner after doing a “health test” on the website.
– It was when I started reading the fine print, which was written in light yellow text on a dark yellow background, that I understood that this cost money. But it was very difficult to see, the exposed man tells the channel.
But the website goes by several names.
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255 notifications to the Consumer Agency – founders not based in Sweden
– During the period July-September, a total of 255 reports have been received by the Swedish Consumer Agency concerning Halsobedomning and Bedomahalsa, says Henrik Jonssonlegal adviser at Konsument Europa who collaborates with the Swedish Consumer Agency, to News24.
Although the website is written in Swedish, he says that the website was created by a company in a completely different country.
– Based on reports and consumers’ contacts with the guidance and Consumer Europe, we have understood that these websites are run by a company based in Hungary.
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The reports: Unclear that the service cost money
The reports have concerned insufficient and incorrect price information and misleading marketing, he writes in a message to Nyheter24.
– In the reports, consumers have expressed that it was not clear that the service cost money. Some consumers also claim that there was no price information at all in ads on social media, he says and continues:
– The Norwegian Consumer Agency’s guidance service and the Consumer Europe unit have received 385 contacts from consumers during the period July-September.
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No warning – yet?
Despite the number of notifications, the Swedish Consumer Agency has not yet issued any warning regarding the websites.
– The Swedish Consumer Agency has a warning list, but it is only at a later stage that a company may end up on it, for example if a company does not respond to the authority’s contact attempts in a supervisory matter.
Currently, the authority’s warning list has not been updated since March this year.
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Thanks to the fact that the company behind the websites appears to be in Hungary, which is an EU country, consumer protection authorities can work together to stop the scam websites. However, whether this work is ongoing is unclear.
– The Swedish Consumer Agency cannot currently comment on whether this particular company is the subject of an EU investigation because such investigations are covered by confidentiality, Jonsson told Nyheter24.