It is not secret that Facebook has come to Namibia in a big way and has disrupted, in both positive and negative ways, the ways that people do business with each other.

Popular Namibian Facebook sites allow people to buy anything from a Playstation controller up to a car or home. One can easily peruse the listings of home rentals from the convenience of their phone or office computer. This convenience has also presented an opportunity for con-artists and fly-by-night operations a way to bring their 'products and services' to the world with the click of a mouse.

This week, I challenged a number of these vendors online to back up what they were telling their customers. On the Facebook site Buy and Sell Namibia, A Facebook profile with the name of Corrie du Preez was advertising yet another miracle weight loss product.

It claimed: No side effects, 100% natural, FDA approved, ideal for diabetics and insulin resistant people.

A link to the website was provided where the claims grew even more bold as we were told that G-Frag, which I was finally informed via Facebook, is a product consisting of amino acids one injects in the hope of losing weight.

The website claims under it's benefit page: "Treatment for fibromyalgia, treatment for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, among others."

I spoke to 'Celeste' who I contacted through the website. I enquired whether G-Frag was FDA approved. I was told, "Yes, indeed it is. The only problem we have showing our certificate is our manufacturer in the US name's on it, so obviously we protect our rights as a company not to show this ....."

I emailed her a link to the FDA database for approved drugs which can be searched by application number or other means which allow her to keep her information confidential, but I was then told that, in fact, G-Frag did not need FDA approval as it was a dietary supplement.

Follow-up questions about why they claimed the approval in the first place were not replied to. The claim of no side effects, going by their own information seems to be false also.

The one amino acid listed, Glycoprotein has the following possible side effects: Unusual bruising or bleeding (eg, blood in urine or stool), dizziness, vision changes, or back pain. In rare cases, patients might require blood transfusions if they develop an unusually low amount of red blood cells.

I was eventually contacted by someone who had tried the injections and told me, "It made me very sick and cost me thousands in medical cost."

I was told by Celeste that she has the right not to have to answer questions, and since last week, has not returned emails.

This is no safe diet. The medical claims go on to make the whole thing illegal to boot.

Another seller on the same page had another miracle diet for sale, this one composed of 'herbs and spices' allegedly withheld from you by 'big pharma' that can cure all manner of things.

Now, the pharmaceutical companies do some pretty heinous things. Like run clinical trials on poor people who do not know their rights, often without understanding what they signed up for, they take drugs to market which are unsafe, they pressure doctors to prescribe their drugs in shady ways, among others.

This does not mean that everyone who rails against 'big pharma' has something legit to sell you.

Usually, this is just part of the pitch, and then we are told, as we were by Willie Alberts Smith, that he has the means to cure diseases including HIV and cancer. When I asked him if he was authorised to sell medicines in Namibia, he said he was. When asked for proof, he deactivated his Facebook account.

This week also saw the arrival of the much reviled Jesse Stone to Namibian Facebook Groups. From Illinois, the 'life-coach' bombarded the page 'Buy and Sell' Namibia, with links to his 'investment opportunity' which was in fact just a thinly disguised pyramid scheme.

Over a span of 36 hours, Stone spammed the pages again and again. Inboxes with questions about his scheme went unanswered until I began posting asking his Facebook friends about him. He finally relented and, claimed he was just now finding out that pyramid schemes are not legal in Namibia and was voluntarily withdrawing.

The problem is that we are just not thinking clearly when we get greedy for an easy solution. Even after I questioned whether Corrie's product was safe, people continued to leave their email addresses and sign up for whatever is really in that product. Which they will then inject into themselves!

I spoke to the administrator of Buy and Sell Namibia and he has agreed to discuss a solution for his very popular page.