Vice President Venkaiah Naidu fooled by fake advertisement

New Delhi, Dec 29: The Vice President Venkaiah Naidu had fooled by the fake advertisement and losing around Rs 1,000 to a promising weight loss tablet.

Mr.Naidu has revealed his experience in Rajya Sabha, of which he is the chairperson, today during a discussion on the problem of misleading and fake advertisement.

Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Agrawal first spoke on the issue, expressing concern over the prevalence of fake and/or misleading advertisement appearing in various media. VP Naidu then interjected to tell the House about his own experience.

"Soon after becoming the vice president, I came across an advertisement of a medication that promised to help lose a certain amount of weight in a certain amount of time," Naidu recalled. "The advertisement asked for some one-thousand rupees, so I paid."

Then, however, instead of receiving a package of the pills, Naidu received a mail telling him there was another tablet he needed to buy to achieve the magical weight loss. That tablet cost another Rs 1,000 and he would be sent the original medication only after he paid money for the second one, the mail said.

This got Naidu suspicious and he then wrote to the consumer affairs ministry, detailing his experience. Ram Vilas Paswan, the consumer affairs minister, launched an inquiry and the minister surprised Naidu by telling him the company that issued the advertisement was not based in New Delhi but in the United States of America.

"There should be something done about such advertisements," Naidu said before ending his interjection by asking if Paswan had any comments.

The minister, for his part, his ministry is working to bring in tough legislation to take action against companies that put out such advertisements.