Viral: BEWARE! Fake shampoo, lotion and other products

Numerous posts have been circling Facebook and other news media sites about peddlers selling fake shampoos, lotions and other products like fabric conditioners. Buyers are lured in by the overly cheap prices. Since the peddlers are selling in open places like SM, most people are not wary of the scam they are about to encounter. Sunsilk, Palmolive, Olay, and other expensive shampoos are sold at a mere P100 each. But we must warn the masses to be a little more cautious and make sure to double check the items you purchase.

In most of the posts and comments, the fake products were usually sold along SM branches. Some victims claim that some sales people came to their houses and offered the cheap products, claiming that they are selling them as a promo. The fake shampoos were sold house-to-house, on the street and even at small sari-sari stores at a cheap promo price.

PASG officer-in-charge Danilo Mangila said 15 agents, acting on a tip, raided a row of shanties in Barangay Sandakot, Payatas at around 9 a.m. and caught members of a family filling used shampoo bottles of different brands with a white liquid that could pass as shampoo.

Iodized salt, starch, sodium laureth sulfate, and scent are mixed together in a bucket and then poured into the recycled bottles, stopping just before the bottle is full. The remaining space is filled with the real shampoo taken from sachets, so when the buyer opens the bottle, she or he smells the real thing.

Consumers are now warned of these unscrupulous vendors so that they may not be scammed in any way. Other products also include fabric conditioners like Downy, lotions like Olay, and other products with liquid content.

NOTICEABLE THINGS:
It’s wrapped tightly in 6 pieces per pack. You’ll be shy to ask them to open it.
It’s very cheap.
They are in a hurry, will tell you that it’s the EXCESS of the orders delivered in a nearby GROCERY or STORE.
The labels or stickers are not cleanly pasted on the body of the bottles.
Check the scents and the content (same in different variants).
They will not inform you if they can come back for more orders.

A small amount of shampoo inside a bottle filled with a different solution (Photo from Facebook)

Fake glue-ish substance from the fake shampoo bottles (Photo from abs-cbnnews.com)