When Venkaiah Naidu was duped by a weight loss ad

A man no less than the Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu was conned by an advertisement that promised quick weight loss with the help of a magic pill.

Sharing his experience in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Naidu said soon after becoming the vice president, he saw an advertisement promising weight loss in 28 days.

Though he had already lost some weight, Naidu decided to give it a try and sent Rs 1,230 to the address mentioned in the advertisement.

"I received a package. But when I opened it, there was a message that I have to pay another 1,000-odd rupee to get the original weight-loss tablet. The message said the company would send me the tablet only after it received the second instalment," he said.

Naidu got suspicious and asked the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to look into it.

The ministry, after a probe, found that the advertisement originated in the US.

"We need to find out a way to curb such advertisements, whether they originate in the US or any other country," Naidu said.

He narrated the incident after Samajwadi Party member Naresh Agarwal raised the issue of misleading advertisements deceiving common people in connection with his Zero Hour notice on adulteration in food articles.

In his response, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the government had drafted a new consumer protection law to replace the existing law, which is 31 years old and lacked teeth.

The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2015 and was referred to the standing committee.

A revised bill that enlarges the scope of the existing law to make it more effective and purposeful was approved by the Cabinet on December 20 and is likely to be presented before the House in the ongoing session.

"The members should pass the bill at the earliest, instead of sending it to a committee again," Paswan said.