Korean consumers warned against overseas sales of hair loss drugs

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Consumers in Korea are falling victim to scams after purchasing hair loss medications that have not been approved through overseas online shopping to save money on expensive hair loss treatments.

Korea Customs Service (KCS) recently intensified crackdowns on illegal importation of pharmaceuticals, making it difficult for hair loss medications to pass through customs. As a result, scams that do not deliver the goods even after receiving payment have become rampant. Particularly concerning is the disappearance of overseas distributors of hair loss medications, as it becomes challenging to track them down and apprehend them within the country, leaving consumers in a vulnerable position.

According to Seoul Seocho Police Station on Sunday, a person only identified as Kim, who lent his name to a company involved in importing hair loss medication from India, was indicted in April on charges of violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act. The company received payment from victims until December but repeatedly postponed product shipments, citing difficulties in customs clearance. Eventually, the company closed its online store and vanished. Although Kim was apprehended, the investigation into the main culprits who disappeared overseas was suspended due to the inability to determine their whereabouts.

The police estimate that the actual number of victims is higher than the reported 18 cases as the hair loss medication in question has been designated as a product subject to customs retention by KCS since 2021. Among the list of hazardous drugs submitted to the customs service by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2021, the Indian hair loss medication distributed by the company was included. Since then, customs service has restricted the clearance of this Indian hair loss medication.

“The Indian hair loss drug was excessively distributed through illegal overseas purchases, so we included it in the list of hazardous drugs in 2021 and reported it to the customs service,” said a ministry official.

Despite the high risk of scams associated with unauthorized overseas purchases of hair loss drugs, demand for such products continues due to their low prices. The hair loss drug sold by the company is only about one-tenth the price per tablet compared with a domestically produced genuine hair loss medication with the same ingredients, which cost around 2,000 won ($1.55) per tablet. To purchase prescription-only hair loss medications, consumers would need to spend around 20,000 won and obtain a prescription.

Furthermore, in the past year alone, the amount of seized illegal pharmaceutical imports reached 1.53 billion won by April. The total amount of illegal pharmaceutical imports in violation of the customs law, which was at the level of 5.7 billion won in 2019, slightly decreased to 2.94 billion won in 2020 due to the pandemic. However, it surged to 8.47 billion won in 2021 and 8.35 billion won in 2022, reaching the 8 billion won range in the past two years.