A large-scale operation against a criminal scheme for counterfeit medicines. The Directorate of the Bulgarian Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Directorate of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor's Office broke up an illegal workshop that operated from Bulgaria to several countries in Europe. The products were advertised through videos with the faces of famous doctors, journalists and public figures, generated with the help of artificial intelligence. Thus, consumers were offered medications, mainly for cardiovascular diseases.
One of the victims who filed a report on the case is Dr. Miroslav Nenkov - former Minister of Health. According to initial data, the supplements are not dangerous, but the scheme has brought in a profit of about 250 million euros over the past five years.
On the air of “Hello, Bulgaria” Dr. Nenkov did not comment on whether there is an umbrella over the fraudulent scheme, but he emphasized that the group has been operating for many years. “The issue is that an awful lot of things have been sold through false advertisements with the faces of my colleagues. This is a hole in the management and in the prevention of what we as patients drink. The very fact of the fraud is terribly disgusting. In one of the videos that were distributed, people were urged to stop their own treatment”, he pointed out.
The first advertisement that reached him was for “medicines” for blood pressure. He emphasized that his lawyer reached the fact that it was an international group, the documents were submitted to the prosecutor's office, and he himself was summoned for questioning.
According to information from the institutions, about 300 different food supplements were found. “The question is where the hub is and I hope the organizer of the scheme will be exposed”, said the victim.
According to him, it is not appropriate for doctors to publicly advertise products and stressed: “Whatever is seen with my face is a fraud. I will not publicly, in front of a non-professional audience, advertise a treatment product”.