Warning of fraud in online medical examination and treatment

Online medical examination and treatment market disorder

With just one click on any search result, people can be immediately connected with a “doctor” or consultant. Through research, it can be seen that there are still reputable online medical examination and treatment services, real doctors at major hospitals, but in the “forest of information”, people can easily fall into the situation of “mixing gold and copper”.

The price of online consultation services is also quite diverse, from 50,000 VND/5 minutes to 500,000 VND/time, depending on the specialty and consultation duration. For example, a consultation with a gastroenterologist via the website costs 300,000 VND/30 minutes. The platforms used for consultation include Zalo, Viber, Skype, Messenger... and all require payment in advance.

Just go to some health groups and leave a status line about needing to see a doctor for chronic headaches, just a few minutes later someone will contact you, introducing themselves as a staff member of the neurological examination center, with a promotional program, 50% discount on examination fees, 20% discount on treatment medicine. After leaving your phone number, this person will call back, advertising that there are doctors and professors from Bach Mai Hospital, Military Hospital 108, 103 and will be consulted depending on the condition of the disease.

In many cases, the "doctor" informed them of serious illnesses such as severe inflammation, cysts, risk of infertility, etc. to scare them and force them to undergo immediate treatment at costs ranging from several million to tens of millions of dong.

According to a citizen’s reflection, when searching for the phrase “Make an appointment at Bach Mai Hospital” online by phone, customers saw a related advertisement and clicked on a website with the address: https://timkiemtrogiup.com/. Here, after entering information in the search box, the system displayed a number of switchboards with instructions to call for support.

When calling the hotline number and explaining the need to make an appointment for their child, the customer is instructed to add a staff member on Zalo. This person then sends a confirmation message with a QR code and requests a transfer of 600,000 VND to complete the appointment.

However, the next morning, when taking the child to Bach Mai Hospital as scheduled, the customer was shocked to be informed that his name was not in the system. When he checked his Zalo messages, all the previous content had been revoked and he could not contact the person claiming to be a support staff. At this point, the customer realized that he had been scammed.

Notably, in addition to the 600,000 VND booking fee, customers also had to pay call fees of up to 8,000 VND/minute, causing the total amount of money stolen to be nearly 1 million VND.

Ms. Tran Thu Ha, representative of Bach Mai Hospital's consulting hotline, said that recently, the hospital has received many complaints from patients about having made appointments and paid but when they arrived, there was no information. The reason is that scammers have run advertisements, taking advantage of people's desire to make appointments quickly and conveniently to steal money. Notably, these fake websites constantly change their hotline numbers to avoid detection.

Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Hong Hanh, Head of the Department of On-Demand Medical Examination and Treatment at Bach Mai Hospital, said that online appointment booking is becoming increasingly popular, attracting hundreds to thousands of patients every day. Therefore, scammers have forged the hospital's domain name and hotline number to make a profit. Ms. Hanh affirmed that Bach Mai Hospital only has one hotline number, 1900888866.

Clear regulations are needed to avoid risks.

Fake videos and images of doctors and medical staff are used to increase trust. People are easily convinced by the sharing of “living witnesses” who have cured diseases. When receiving money, the subjects immediately cut off contact.

Therefore, people should carefully check the information of doctors and medical facilities, and only use official online medical examination and treatment platforms with clear authentication. If you suspect you have been scammed, you should immediately report to the authorities or consumer protection organizations for support.

Faced with the proliferation of online medical examination services, the Ministry of Health has issued Circular 30/2025/TT-BYT, stipulating that 50 diseases in nearly 20 specialties are allowed to be examined and treated remotely, such as musculoskeletal (shoulder and neck pain, arthritis, osteoarthritis), cancer (after treatment, palliative care), infectious diseases (flu, Covid-19), dermatology (skin diseases caused by viruses, fungi, parasites...), ear, nose and throat (rhinopharyngitis, gingivitis...).

The Circular also requires telemedicine practitioners to register with the health management agency, be responsible for diagnosis results, prescribe through the National Prescription System, and ensure confidentiality of patient information.

Doctor Nguyen Huy Hoang, Vietnam - Russia High Pressure Oxygen Center, said that online medical examination and treatment is a modern trend, saving time and money, but people need to be alert and careful when choosing services. They should only use licensed platforms, have clear doctors, and always check information through official channels to avoid "losing money and getting sick".

Source: https://baodautu.vn/canh-bao-lua-dao-trong-kham-chua-benh-online-d355266.html