Reporting a Suspect Product or Seller in the UK: Who Takes It

A UK buyer suspects a product is falsified or a seller is supplying illegally - which body takes which kind of report (MHRA seller form, Yellow Card for suspected fakes, Trading Standards via Citizens Advice, Report Fraud for money), and what does each need?

There is no single UK desk for a suspect product or seller. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency takes reports about online sellers that may be supplying medicines or medical devices illegally, and about falsified products. Trading Standards, reached through the Citizens Advice consumer service, takes reports about unfair or illegal trading. Report Fraud takes reports where money has been lost to deception.

A report that lands at the wrong desk is usually closed without action. Matching the problem to the body, and attaching the evidence that body asks for, is most of the work. The pages cited here were read on 10 October 2026. Forms and addresses move, so use the links from the GOV.UK pages rather than from old bookmarks. For context on what the regulator is currently looking at, the Q&A site covers the 2026 inquiry.

Four desks, four problems

Start by naming what is wrong, in one sentence. Is the product not what it claims to be? Is the seller supplying something it should not? Is the trading unfair? Has money gone? The answer picks the desk.

One incident can belong to more than one desk. A fake product bought from a seller who then disappears might reasonably go to the MHRA and to Report Fraud. File each report separately and say what you have already done.

Falsified, counterfeit, unlicensed

These words are used loosely in news coverage and they mean different things in law. Using the right one helps a triage officer read the report in the right frame.

Falsified has a statutory definition. Regulation 8 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 defines a falsified medicinal product as one with a false representation of its identity, its source or its history. The identity limb carves out unintentional quality defects; the source and history limbs do not ^[3]. A product whose label names the wrong maker, or whose batch history has been invented, can fall within it.

Counterfeit is a trade-mark concept: goods that unlawfully carry another's mark. The MHRA's Yellow Card guidance says the agency can investigate counterfeit medicines or devices and, if necessary, take action ^[2]. Unlicensed describes a product that should hold a marketing authorisation and does not. It is a status, not an allegation of fakery.

Whether a particular research material falls within medicines law is a question for the regulator, not for the person reporting. You do not need to decide. Describe what you observed and let the agency classify it.

The MHRA online seller report

The GOV.UK page headed Report a suspicious online medicine seller says that anyone can report an online seller, and that reports concern a website or seller that may be offering medicines or medical devices illegally. You can submit without giving your name ^[1].

The page asks for your reason for reporting and the seller's details, such as a social media name or a web address. It lists optional extras: photographs of the product and packaging, a screenshot, the seller's name or telephone number, and emails, receipts or messages from the seller ^[1].

The same page says that if you want to report a side effect of a medicine or device, you should use the Yellow Card service instead ^[1]. This article concerns product and seller reports only.

Yellow Card for a suspected fake

Older guides send readers to a Yellow Card sub-page headed other reporting. That address no longer works. The current MHRA guidance on GOV.UK lists a falsified product, meaning a fake medicine or fake medical device, among the problems the Yellow Card website takes ^[2].

Begin from the GOV.UK guidance page and follow its falsified-product link, rather than from an old address. The guidance also covers defective products. The MHRA's device pages give a separate email address for counterfeit device concerns; take that from the live device guidance rather than from a third-party article.

Trading Standards through Citizens Advice

GOV.UK directs people with a complaint about illegal sales activity to find their local Trading Standards office, and to Citizens Advice for consumer rights advice ^[4]. In England the Citizens Advice consumer service is the front door: it assesses a report and passes it to local Trading Standards ^[5].

Citizens Advice says reports can cover goods that are unsafe, fake or not as described, and scams. It also makes a point worth remembering: Trading Standards cannot get you a refund. They act on wider problems with a business, and for your own money you pursue your consumer rights ^[5]. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own pages on the Citizens Advice website.

Report Fraud when money has gone

Report Fraud is the national reporting service for fraud and cyber crime in England and Wales. GOV.UK announced it as the service replacing Action Fraud, launched by City of London Police in December 2025 ^[6]. Older articles still say Action Fraud; the task is the same, the name has changed.

Use it where a seller took payment and never intended to deliver, or where someone impersonated a supplier. A genuine supplier who is slow, or who delivered something you consider unsatisfactory, is a civil matter, and your bank or card issuer is the first call. Report Fraud covers England and Wales; if you are in Scotland or Northern Ireland, check the live GOV.UK page for the route that applies to you.

What to photograph and keep before you report

• The outer packaging, label side up, with the courier label and any customs declaration visible.
• The item as received, in the container it came in, next to a ruler or coin for scale. Do not open, test or alter it further.
• Every label, batch number and printed document supplied with it.
• Screenshots of the seller's pages with the web address and the date visible, taken before anything changes.
• The order confirmation, payment record and all messages with the seller.
• A short dated note of what you observed and when.

Write the account in order and keep it factual. Say when you ordered, what you paid, how it was paid, when it arrived, what you noticed and what you did next. Leave out speculation about motive. A triage officer reads dozens of these, and a plain timeline with attachments is the version that gets passed to someone who can act.

If the seller contacted you after the order, keep those messages in their original form. Screenshots help, but an exported email with its headers intact is stronger evidence of where it came from.

What happens after a report

Expect an acknowledgement at most. Regulators assess reports as intelligence, and they usually cannot tell you what they do with a particular one, because enforcement work may be ongoing. A silent outcome is not a sign that your report was ignored.

Do not stop your own record-keeping while you wait. Log the date and reference number of each report beside the order file, and keep copying new correspondence into it. If you have lost money, your bank or card issuer runs a separate process on its own timetable.