Dubious health companies are exploiting elderly with overpriced products

Hungarian celebrities Győzike and Feró Nagy have become the faces of a company that offers “well-being, health promotion, wellness” products. Ex-motivational trainer Bence Bódi also appears in the background of a similar company. He and his brothers recently confessed: “we just sold all our crap to pensioners.” They claim to have gone clean since. It’s a well-known racket in Hungary – companies invite pensioners for free or cheap health check-ups, and then offer them products at exorbitant prices.

Summertime. ‘László’, 78, was browsing the net. He came upon an ad on Facebook – a medical survey for HUF 6,000 in a large rural town. He went to the check-up – 10 minutes. Bad news: something was seriously wrong with his heart. Worry not, László – there’s a device that could solve all the problems, for the low, low price of HUF 395,000.

What could László do? He panicked and put down a deposit, and he got a receipt. He pulled out of the purchase later – first, they were reluctant to let him go, but he managed to get his money back eventually.

He was charged for a bio-resonance assessment and a meridim acugraph assessment by the Hungarian Health Assessment Center Ltd (Magyar Állapotfelmérő Centrum Kft.). The device was a BNM LED light therapy lamp. We interviewed a health professional – they had never heard about NLS-assessments. They added:

if anyone feels something may be wrong with their health, or had been told by similar assessments that something is wrong with their health, they should seek a specialist.

It’s a well-known racket in Hungary – companies invite pensioners for free or cheap health check-ups, and then offer them products – “well-being, health promotion, wellness” – at exorbitant prices.

Health assessment that „does not substitute medical diagnosis”

A quick search for the Hungarian Health Assessment Center Ltd that appeared on László’s receipt leads to the website Alternativeshop – responsible, according to the site, for human health services.

Alternativeshop claims to help Hungarians with “wellness, beauty and medical and pharmaceutical solutions,” provided by a staff of wellbeing consultants. Applications are open for the “MORA Bio-resonance Test” and the “Pulse Wave Test”, among other assessments. They also sell pulse electromagnetic therapy devices.

However, the site takes no responsibility for the mechanism of the products, nor does it claim that any of them are suitable for treating the condition identified in the assessment. The “Our Partners” section includes two celebrities who are very popular in government circles – Feró Nagy and Győzike – and the law firm Kertész & Partners, which, like the two celebrities, is also linked to Fidesz. An eclectic bunch of partners.

Feró from May 2023, Győzike from July 2023 for one year as the advertising face of the Biomag, Alternative, Balance, ProRelax brands in Hungary (Photo: Atlatszo montage , source: alternativeshop.hu)

We tried to contact both Alternativeshop and the Hungarian Health Assessment Center, but only the latter has replied. The managing director stressed in his response: they are careful to provide accurate information, and they comply with the law. They do not sell the products after the health assessment, but should people come into the building to visit other companies that reside there,

they “will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the company’s operations and products.”

The companies operating Alternativeshop, Alternative Hungary Kft. and Alternative International Kft. are based in Dunakeszi (Photo: Átlátszó/Erdélyi Katalin)

Bódi’s testimony: “We just sold all our crap to pensioners”

Wellbeing companies focusing on pensioners have been in the news on several occasions.

Last year, the story of the Bódi brothers – motivational speakers – emerged when a video came to light, where they admitted: “We sold things that I’m not sure we would sell today.” Essentially, “we sold all the crap to pensioners.”

Between 2014 and September 2015, Bence Bódi was the managing director of SPS Medical Product Ltd., which has since been liquidated. From September 2014 until May 2015, a similarly-named SPS Doctors Holding Ltd ran the Prestige business – covered in the press in connection with a pensioner scam. The company then ran as Standardps Europe Holding Ltd until 2017. During that period, the company’s premises coincided with one of the premises of the company operating the Prestige store.

Premium Medical Group Ltd, now called Hungary Property Invest Ltd, also shared the premises. Bence Bódi was the managing director from 2015 to 2018, followed by Levente Ökrösi until August 2022, now owned by Dávid Nagy.

Alternativeshop’s website writes that this company has been renting one of their partner stores, as has Hungary Property Invest Ltd, also managed by Dávid Nagy, and previously, for almost half a year, by Levente Ökrösi. The two companies have the same registered office as the companies that operate Alternativeshop.

Ökrösi, until mid-December 2023, was also the managing director of the Hungarian Health Assessment Center Ltd – partner company to the company operating Alternativeshop – which provides “other health services”, according to a charmingly non-specific description.

Ökrösi is a busy man – last summer, he made many new friends in government circles, and he spent much time posing with prominent Fidesz politicians, according to his social media page.

Levente Ökrösi with Viktor Orbán and Győző Gáspár at the Tranzit Festival 2023 (photo: Facebook)

Wellbeing companies are thriving…

The SZEN-VI Group Ltd, owned by Levente Ökrösi between 2014 and 2023, had a revenue of HUF 575 million in 2022, of which HUF 32 million was recorded as profit. SZEN-VI Management Ltd, also once owned by Ökrösi, had a revenue of HUF 840 million and a profit of HUF 7.7 million.

Alternativeshop is linked to Alternative Hungary Ltd, Alternative International Ltd and a Romanian company. It is not unclear as of yet just how much extra revenue Győzike and Feró Nagy brought in.

In 2022, Alternative Hungary Ltd had a net turnover of nearly HUF 246 million and a net profit after tax of HUF 10.6 million. Alternative International Ltd, relatively new in comparison – they were only formed in August 2022 – ended the year with net sales of HUF 15.6 million and a profit of HUF 2.7 million. The Hungarian Health Assessment Center, founded at the same time, had no revenue and made a loss of HUF 8.4 million.

…and on the radar of the authorities

The BNM brand and other wellbeing products have been repeatedly come up against the Competition and Markets Authority (GVH) and the courts. Several companies marketing similar products have already been fined – tens of millions, often – by specialized bodies. Most of the complaints have been based on unfair contract terms and misleading information.

The Veszprém Police Department conducted criminal proceedings against employees of a company that conducted a health survey in 2017 on the basis of a well-founded suspicion of fraud. BNM products can be seen in the police photos. Source: police.hu

Over the past few years, several similar shops that specialize in pensioners have been prosecuted by the police, and lawsuits are pending across the country. At the end of 2018, 52 defendants were indicted by the Szombathely District Court. In 2022, a first-instance, non-final judgment sentenced 14 defendants to a total of around 42 years in prison; 27 defendants were sentenced to a suspended imprisonment, and the other defendants received fines, and in two cases probation, and in two cases a reprimand. The court imposed a total fine of HUF 52.5 million. The appeal proceedings are ongoing.

Legal loopholes

Although the Bódi brothers claimed in their previous confession videos that they had “gone straight”, Bence Bódi was still mired in a lawsuit until October 2023 with a man from Ferencváros.

Attila Szűcs is a resident of the apartment building into which the Prestige store moved in 2017. Szűcs told Átlátszó that the residents’ parking spaces were occupied by luxury cars worth tens of millions, and taxis were often waiting in the courtyard, leaving residents unable to park their own vehicles. Fuelled by the ensuing conflict, the man started documenting the situation. He spoke to elderly customers who came for check-ups, and often returned to complain about useless and expensive purchases of laser watches.

Attila Szűcs. Source: Átlátszó/Zita Szopkó

Although the real estate development company abandoned the properties in 2018 and Prestige in 2019, a couple of complaints were made before that. Two lawsuits were filed: one criminal case for harassment, and one for civil damages.

Szűcs has been accused of harassment by employees of the Prestige shop and the company that leased the premises, including Bence Bódi and others who worked there at the time. The development company is demanding millions in damages.

In the harassment case, the court of first instance sentenced Attila Szűcs to a fine of HUF 300,000. The court of appeal ordered him to be placed on probation, instead.

Szűcs has one last chance – the Supreme Court. The first instance court ordered the man to pay HUF 6.5 million plus default interest, but the court of appeal increased this to HUF 8.11 million plus legal fees. Overall, according to Szűcs’ calculations, the company suing him wants around HUF 13 million. Szűcs said that “they are exploiting legal loopholes, using the law to sue those who expose their illegal activities.”

Translated by Vanda Mayer. The original, more detailed Hungarian versions of this story are written by Soma Kiss and Zita Szopkó, are available here and here.