Latest news with #Nguyễn
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Oregon Democratic state Rep. Hòa Nguyễn returns to House following cancer diagnosis
Rep. Hòa Nguyễn, D-Portland, speaks on the House floor on June 20, 2025, her first day back in the Capitol since leaving to undergo cancer treatment in February. (Screengrab from Oregon legislative broadcast) Rep. Hòa Nguyễn, D-Portland on Friday returned to the Oregon House in her first official public appearance since announcing she was undergoing treatment for advanced cancer in February. 'I felt like I have a second chance at life now, by some miracle, whatever, all the prayers and affirmations really help,' she said on the House floor on Friday, surrounded by many of her colleagues and staff wearing face masks. 'I think it's the community, it's all of you here and the support that really, really pushed me through.' The representative comes back to the Legislature at a critical moment for Oregon Democrats, who are working with slim margins in both legislative chambers to pass a transportation package in the face of staunch opposition from Republicans and some Democrats concerned about the tax increases and scope of the proposed measure. In its latest form, the proposal would raise an estimated $14.6 billion over the next 10 years. Any tax increases require 36 votes, and Democrats need Nguyễn if they're not able to sway any Republicans. Nguyễn's seat came under the spotlight in February after she revealed that she was beginning chemotherapy treatments for stage 4 cancer, an explanation for why she had already missed weeks of legislative business. A stage 4 diagnosis is the most intense stage of cancer, when the disease has spread to other parts of the body and is harder to treat. During her remarks, Nguyễn thanked her colleagues for the courtesies they had extended to her aunt, brother and sister when they were recognized on the House floor in May. She called herself 'a fighter' and said she is ready to get back to work at some point, but didn't say for how long she would return or the extent to which she had recovered. Nguyễn was excused for the House's afternoon session on Friday. 'She is taking the session day by day at this point, and we're focused on her health above anything,' said a spokesperson for the House Majority Office in a Friday statement. Nguyễn in a February statement said her staff would provide critical constituent services, vowing to continue her efforts to address chronic absenteeism and improve child care access. She previously served as vice chair of the House Early Childhood and Human Services Committee and a member of the House Education Committee and Ways and Means subcommittee on education, but Speaker Julie Fahey gradually removed her from those rules during her treatment. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What pho can teach us about the history of Vietnam
In the buzzing matrix of Hanoi's old quarter sits Phở Thìn, one of 700-or-so pho restaurants that speckle this thousand-year-old city. Phở Thìn is practically outfitted with stainless steel tables, embellished by jars and shakers, over wastebaskets for the innumerable spent lime rinds and napkins requisite for enjoying Vietnam's beloved national dish. Beneath the whirr of fans and clank of lids, diners pore over their bowls of phở bò (beef pho), which owner Nguyễn Trọng Thìn has been serving here since 1979. Nguyễn opened Phở Thìn in the scarce years following the Vietnam War, hoping it would always enable him to feed his newborn son. A fiercely proud Hanoian from a family that has resided in this very neighborhood for 10 generations, Nguyễn developed his pho recipe, slightly smoky with extra spring onion, 46 years ago with his northern city's people at heart. 'People in Hanoi, especially artists, are known to be very picky about their food,' says Nguyen, an artist by trade himself. 'But if you make good pho, people will know it, and they'll come.' About 7,000 miles west, in Oakland, California, Tee Tran opened Monster Pho in 2014. In 1987, at age three, Tee fled the southern city of Saigon by boat with his mom and brothers, living in refugee camps before settling in California. He grew up adoring his mother's southern style of cooking, and his restaurant is true to those recipes. 'Pho is our staple; it's what we grew up on,' says Tee. 'We'd beg our mom to make it when we were little.' Today, throughout Vietnam and across the world, people are sitting down for a bowl of pho. An unexpectedly new dish in Vietnam's long culinary history, this aromatic soup of flat rice noodles, meat, and herbs has traveled far beyond its original roots over a century of change. If you taste closely, each bowl can tell you a lot about where it's been. (Related: A guide to Hanoi, Vietnam's beguiling capital) The widely accepted story begins at the end of the 19th century, 50 miles from Hanoi in Nam Dinh province. Situated on the Red River Delta, the area abounded with fertile rice paddies, where farmers kept cows as labor animals while locals preferred to eat other meats, such as water buffalo. But 1898 brought an influx of French laborers to build what would become the largest textile plant in colonized Indochina, and with the French, an appetite for beef. 'The Vietnamese saw the way the French were using beef, and they were like, 'You're kind of wasteful,'' says Khanh Linh Trinh, a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan studying Vietnamese culinary history. Left with the bones and scraps, prudent local cooks boiled the first version of pho broth, pouring it over noodles and meat to create a new variation of soups they'd known for generations and selling it to both local and French laborers. When these workers journeyed to Hanoi for construction of the Long Biên Bridge, pho vendors followed, and the soup took root in the capital. 'People in the North really value the purity of the broth,' says Trinh, who is from Hanoi and attributes the northern preference for delicate pho broth in part to the influence of Southern Chinese people in the region. Vietnam was split after the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, and nearly a million Northerners moved south. Pho migrated with them and gained popularity below the 17th parallel, adapting to the local preferences in each area. Incorporating new preferences, Southern pho broth evolved to be sweeter, darker, and richer. In 1975, Northern troops captured Saigon, ending the Vietnam War and bringing about massive migrations. Hundreds of thousands of Southern Vietnamese, like Tee, fled to the United States, France, and Australia, building distinctly Vietnamese communities in places like San Jose, California. Around the same time, Vietnam's new communist government began sending people, mostly Northerners, to study and work in the Soviet Union. Some of them stayed, followed by friends and family, growing significant Northern Vietnamese populations in Germany, the Czech Republic, and other former Soviet nations. Among the memories that traveled with each, were their distinct recipes for pho, carrying regional versions of the dish all over the world. 'A lot of Chinese restaurants were run by Vietnamese people who didn't have the confidence to introduce Vietnamese food,' says Trinh Thuy Duong, a Vietnamese food blogger who moved from Hanoi to Prague with her family in the 90s, adding that authentic Vietnamese food was only offered in Vietnamese markets. 'But around 2010, one family opened a pho restaurant in the center of Prague. There were lines out the door.' Pho restaurants began opening all over the city, serving the clear, savory northern style brought by so many to Prague. One, Pho 100, even makes their own fresh noodles (banh pho, the namesake of the dish). Around the same time, Trinh Thuy Duong found the confidence to begin offering tours of the original Vietnamese market, introducing more dishes to those inspired by their first taste of pho. Northern or Southern, broth is the heart of pho. In Hanoi and Oakland, respectively, Nguyễn and Tee begin their broths the same way, with marrow-rich beef bones, parboiled to remove impurities before simmering for up to 12 hours. As the bones whisper their flavors, the chefs add onion, ginger, and the spices that have given pho its distinguishing aroma for generations—including star anise, cardamom, cinnamon, and coriander. Here, their processes begin to diverge. Nguyễn spices his northern broth with restraint, keeping it light and elegant as his customers have enjoyed for nearly 50 years. Tee dispenses liberally, building the rich southern brew as his mother does, adding rock sugar to bring forward the meaty sweetness. To assemble the dish, the flat rice noodles, slightly wider in northern style, are briefly blanched and strained, creating a springy bed for the sliced beef and onions before the steaming broth is poured over it all prior to serving. Waiting on the table in a southern-style restaurant, be it in California or Ho Chi Minh City, will be bean sprouts, fresh herbs like Thai basil, hoisin, and sriracha, reminiscent of Cantonese and Thai influence in Southern Vietnam. A northern-style table will sport subtler trimmings, like pickled garlic, chili sauce, and lime. (Related: The ultimate Ho Chi Minh City itinerary) Here, cook hands the story to the diner, who garnishes the pho to their liking. For Tee, it's 'a little bit of everything,' while Khanh Linh Trinh would consider hoisin in her clear, Northern pho as sacrilege. In Prague, Trinh Thuy Duong orders her pho with banh quay, fried dough sticks beloved among northern pho eaters. But whatever disagreement exists over which version is better; it tends to go quiet once it's time to eat. 'It's hard to fight with people about their favorite foods,' says Trinh. 'It's very intimate.' Phở Gia Truyền Bát Đàn, Hanoi Translating to 'family heirloom pho,' Phở Gia Truyền is a fantastic example of Hanoi-style pho. Diners can choose from a variety of beef styles, including the popular tái (rare steak), nạm (flank), and chín (lean beef). While Hanoians tend to eat pho for breakfast, Phở Gia Truyền is open all day long. Pho Lien, Hoi An On Vietnam's central coast, Pho Lien offers another delicious regional take, with crushed roasted peanuts and pickled papaya. 'It's completely different from what people know as pho, but it's loved in Hoi An,' says Helen Huyen, a cookbook author from Central Vietnam. 'It still has the essence of pho.' Phở Phượng, Ho Chi Minh City Michelin Guide recommended, Phở Phượng in Saigon's District 1 boasts a flavorful southern broth accompanied by a basket of herbs for diners to add as desired. They are particularly known for their slow-cooked oxtail (đuôi bò). (Related: Remembering Anthony Bourdain—and his favorite places) Ryley Graham is a Minnesota-raised freelance journalist based in Hanoi, Vietnam. Her work, mainly focused on food, migration, and the environment, has been featured in publications such as Smithsonian Magazine and USA Today. Translation assistance was provided by Mai Hang Nguyen.
National Geographic
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- National Geographic
Why pho tastes different depending on where you are
In the buzzing matrix of Hanoi's old quarter sits Phở Thìn, one of 700-or-so pho restaurants that speckle this thousand-year-old city. Phở Thìn is practically outfitted with stainless steel tables, embellished by jars and shakers, over wastebaskets for the innumerable spent lime rinds and napkins requisite for enjoying Vietnam's beloved national dish. Beneath the whirr of fans and clank of lids, diners pore over their bowls of phở bò (beef pho), which owner Nguyễn Trọng Thìn has been serving here since 1979. Nguyễn opened Phở Thìn in the scarce years following the Vietnam War, hoping it would always enable him to feed his newborn son. A fiercely proud Hanoian from a family that has resided in this very neighborhood for 10 generations, Nguyễn developed his pho recipe, slightly smoky with extra spring onion, 46 years ago with his northern city's people at heart. Black cardamom (Thao Qua) is a traditional ingredient in pho broth. Photograph by Ian Teh, Panos Pictures/Redux 'People in Hanoi, especially artists, are known to be very picky about their food,' says Nguyen, an artist by trade himself. 'But if you make good pho, people will know it, and they'll come.' About 7,000 miles west, in Oakland, California, Tee Tran opened Monster Pho in 2014. In 1987, at age three, Tee fled the southern city of Saigon by boat with his mom and brothers, living in refugee camps before settling in California. He grew up adoring his mother's southern style of cooking, and his restaurant is true to those recipes. 'Pho is our staple; it's what we grew up on,' says Tee. 'We'd beg our mom to make it when we were little.' Today, throughout Vietnam and across the world, people are sitting down for a bowl of pho. An unexpectedly new dish in Vietnam's long culinary history, this aromatic soup of flat rice noodles, meat, and herbs has traveled far beyond its original roots over a century of change. If you taste closely, each bowl can tell you a lot about where it's been. (Related: A guide to Hanoi, Vietnam's beguiling capital) The origins of pho The widely accepted story begins at the end of the 19th century, 50 miles from Hanoi in Nam Dinh province. Situated on the Red River Delta, the area abounded with fertile rice paddies, where farmers kept cows as labor animals while locals preferred to eat other meats, such as water buffalo. But 1898 brought an influx of French laborers to build what would become the largest textile plant in colonized Indochina, and with the French, an appetite for beef. 'The Vietnamese saw the way the French were using beef, and they were like, 'You're kind of wasteful,'' says Khanh Linh Trinh, a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan studying Vietnamese culinary history. Left with the bones and scraps, prudent local cooks boiled the first version of pho broth, pouring it over noodles and meat to create a new variation of soups they'd known for generations and selling it to both local and French laborers. Hanoians tend to eat pho for breakfast, though many Vietnamese restaurants will serve it throughout the day. Photograph by Stuart Freedman, Corbis/Getty Images When these workers journeyed to Hanoi for construction of the Long Biên Bridge, pho vendors followed, and the soup took root in the capital. 'People in the North really value the purity of the broth,' says Trinh, who is from Hanoi and attributes the northern preference for delicate pho broth in part to the influence of Southern Chinese people in the region. Vietnam was split after the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, and nearly a million Northerners moved south. Pho migrated with them and gained popularity below the 17th parallel, adapting to the local preferences in each area. Incorporating new preferences, Southern pho broth evolved to be sweeter, darker, and richer. In 1975, Northern troops captured Saigon, ending the Vietnam War and bringing about massive migrations. Hundreds of thousands of Southern Vietnamese, like Tee, fled to the United States, France, and Australia, building distinctly Vietnamese communities in places like San Jose, California. Around the same time, Vietnam's new communist government began sending people, mostly Northerners, to study and work in the Soviet Union. Some of them stayed, followed by friends and family, growing significant Northern Vietnamese populations in Germany, the Czech Republic, and other former Soviet nations. Among the memories that traveled with each, were their distinct recipes for pho, carrying regional versions of the dish all over the world. 'A lot of Chinese restaurants were run by Vietnamese people who didn't have the confidence to introduce Vietnamese food,' says Trinh Thuy Duong, a Vietnamese food blogger who moved from Hanoi to Prague with her family in the 90s, adding that authentic Vietnamese food was only offered in Vietnamese markets. 'But around 2010, one family opened a pho restaurant in the center of Prague. There were lines out the door.' Pho restaurants began opening all over the city, serving the clear, savory northern style brought by so many to Prague. One, Pho 100, even makes their own fresh noodles (banh pho, the namesake of the dish). Around the same time, Trinh Thuy Duong found the confidence to begin offering tours of the original Vietnamese market, introducing more dishes to those inspired by their first taste of pho. How pho is made Diners will find more than 700 pho restaurants in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photograph by Martin Westlake, Alamy Stock Photo Marrow-rich beef bones are the foundation of pho's aromatic broth. Photograph by Pascal Deloche, Godong/AP Images Northern or Southern, broth is the heart of pho. In Hanoi and Oakland, respectively, Nguyễn and Tee begin their broths the same way, with marrow-rich beef bones, parboiled to remove impurities before simmering for up to 12 hours. As the bones whisper their flavors, the chefs add onion, ginger, and the spices that have given pho its distinguishing aroma for generations—including star anise, cardamom, cinnamon, and coriander. Here, their processes begin to diverge. Nguyễn spices his northern broth with restraint, keeping it light and elegant as his customers have enjoyed for nearly 50 years. Tee dispenses liberally, building the rich southern brew as his mother does, adding rock sugar to bring forward the meaty sweetness. To assemble the dish, the flat rice noodles, slightly wider in northern style, are briefly blanched and strained, creating a springy bed for the sliced beef and onions before the steaming broth is poured over it all prior to serving. Waiting on the table in a southern-style restaurant, be it in California or Ho Chi Minh City, will be bean sprouts, fresh herbs like Thai basil, hoisin, and sriracha, reminiscent of Cantonese and Thai influence in Southern Vietnam. A northern-style table will sport subtler trimmings, like pickled garlic, chili sauce, and lime. (Related: The ultimate Ho Chi Minh City itinerary) Here, cook hands the story to the diner, who garnishes the pho to their liking. For Tee, it's 'a little bit of everything,' while Khanh Linh Trinh would consider hoisin in her clear, Northern pho as sacrilege. In Prague, Trinh Thuy Duong orders her pho with banh quay, fried dough sticks beloved among northern pho eaters. But whatever disagreement exists over which version is better; it tends to go quiet once it's time to eat. 'It's hard to fight with people about their favorite foods,' says Trinh. 'It's very intimate.' Where to eat pho in Vietnam Phở Gia Truyền Bát Đàn, Hanoi Translating to 'family heirloom pho,' Phở Gia Truyền is a fantastic example of Hanoi-style pho. Diners can choose from a variety of beef styles, including the popular tái (rare steak), nạm (flank), and chín (lean beef). While Hanoians tend to eat pho for breakfast, Phở Gia Truyền is open all day long. Pho Lien, Hoi An On Vietnam's central coast, Pho Lien offers another delicious regional take, with crushed roasted peanuts and pickled papaya. 'It's completely different from what people know as pho, but it's loved in Hoi An,' says Helen Huyen, a cookbook author from Central Vietnam. 'It still has the essence of pho.' Phở Phượng, Ho Chi Minh City Michelin Guide recommended, Phở Phượng in Saigon's District 1 boasts a flavorful southern broth accompanied by a basket of herbs for diners to add as desired. They are particularly known for their slow-cooked oxtail (đuôi bò). (Related: Remembering Anthony Bourdain—and his favorite places) Ryley Graham is a Minnesota-raised freelance journalist based in Hanoi, Vietnam. Her work, mainly focused on food, migration, and the environment, has been featured in publications such as Smithsonian Magazine and USA Today. Translation assistance was provided by Mai Hang Nguyen.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
WA Commerce chief warns tariff fallout could hit state hard
Washington Department of Commerce Director Joe Nguyễn speaks with Inside Olympia host Austin Jenkins. (Photo courtesy of TVW) This article was first published by TVW. Washington's top commerce official says the state cannot shield its economy from the fallout of rapidly escalating tariffs, particularly in sectors like agriculture, aerospace and technology. 'There is no way in Washington state that we can cover the gap for a global tariff trade war,' said Department of Commerce Director Joe Nguyễn in a wide-ranging interview on 'Inside Olympia'. 'We haven't recovered from the last trade war [in 2018],' he told host Austin Jenkins, 'We're still down 30% of exports to the Asia Pacific region because of the previous ones.' Washington is among the most trade-dependent states in the nation, with more than $58 billion in exports in 2024 and 40% of jobs tied to trade. According to the governor's office, new and retaliatory tariffs could cost the state's agriculture sector $7.5 billion, with significant hits expected to apples, cherries, potatoes, wheat and dairy. India, for example, has imposed a 20% retaliatory tariff on U.S. apples, which the state says has caused shipments to fall dramatically. Nguyễn emphasized that while the state has launched a tariff information resource and is engaging international partners like Canada, Vietnam and Mexico, its capacity is limited. 'These tariffs are even worse than what we saw last time,' he said. Nguyễn described the Department of Commerce's role as pivotal — but constrained — in navigating such external pressures. With 485 programs and an $8 billion portfolio, the agency manages everything from housing and behavioral health to economic development and small business grants. 'If this was a publicly traded company, you're talking about a Fortune 500 company,' he said. 'It is a behemoth in terms of the reach that we have.' Among Commerce's most visible challenges is the state's growing housing crisis. Washington needs more than 1.1 million additional housing units by 2040, according to state projections, with more than half required to serve the lowest-income residents. Nguyễn acknowledged that even with a proposed $600 million investment in the Housing Trust Fund — the largest in state history — gaps remain. 'It amounts to about 2% of what we actually need on an annual basis,' he said. 'So we can do as much as we can at the state to enable, in this case, affordable housing … but we need the capital markets. We need other investments.' Nguyễn said the state's regulatory landscape often slows or derails projects, despite good intentions behind the rules. He cited conflicting definitions between two housing bills — one related to middle housing and another to accessory dwelling units — that have created confusion among local governments trying to comply with growth management laws. Nguyễn said he is developing a new proposal he calls a 'Fast Track,' which would apply an 'abundance mindset' to housing policy by targeting areas with high need and fewer regulatory hurdles. He said the idea is still in early stages and has not yet been publicly vetted. 'I have a proposal that I'm shopping with the governor's policy team right now, said Nguyễn. 'The concept aims to demonstrate that faster, more affordable construction is possible under a streamlined permitting model. 'If your goal is to build more housing, [then let's] build more housing,' he said. Nguyễn's critique of bureaucratic inefficiency is grounded in his personal experience. He described the difficulty of navigating complex compliance rules required to administer state and federal grants, saying the state's administrative and accounting manual alone is 1,067 pages. When combined with federal guidance and additional rules, it can exceed 1,500 pages per program. 'That's longer than 'Game of Thrones'. That's the whole of 'Lord of the Rings'. That's double the longest 'Harry Potter book',' he said. There's at least $300,000 to $400,000 of compliance costs associated with that.' To tackle the problem, Nguyễn spent a recent weekend building a custom GPT chatbot using publicly available data from the state accounting manual, federal compliance guidelines and program rules. He fed in sample invoices and used the tool to rate their compliance risk as high, medium or low. 'I made a custom GPT… and it came back, and it's fairly accurate,' he said. 'There are ways for us to be much more effective so that we can still be compliant, provide the tools for our staff to be much more effective with their time and our resources.' Nguyễn said the goal isn't to replace state workers but to free them from rote administrative tasks so they can focus on designing programs and serving communities. 'We've essentially built a system where you're trying to catch 1% who might cause a problem, and you punish everybody else,' he said. This article was first published by TVW, Washington's Public Affairs Network, providing unedited coverage of the state legislature and state government, on statewide cable TV and online at It also produces original interview shows, including Inside Olympia and The Impact. A media nonprofit, it exists to give Washingtonians access to their state government, increase civic access and engagement, and foster an informed citizenry.
Boston Globe
02-03-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Medical misinformation runs rampant on YouTube. The targets? Elderly immigrants.
'Today, I will let you in on a secret,' she says in Vietnamese. 'This is the pill I take every day that keeps my bones and joints healthy. It's called Joint Bonus.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up It was this ad that caught the attention of Johnny Dang, a 70-year-old retiree from Carlsbad, California. He was watching a Vietnamese news broadcast on YouTube on his phone that Saturday afternoon when the ad came on. Advertisement '[Nguyễn is] well-known among the Vietnamese [community],' he said. Nguyễn might not be a celebrity to the broader U.S. population but countless Vietnamese households in the U.S. will recognize the singer and host of Paris By Night, a straight-to-tape variety show that some have The now 70-year-old remembers thinking that if Nguyễn sold supplements, then they must be legitimate. And having had chronic joint pain, he figured these supplements could be a remedy to his aching bones. He took a screenshot and soon, after seeing another commercial for it later, ordered his first bottles, spending $500 on supplements. Dang is one of seven Vietnamese people who have told Documented that they spent and lost, hundreds if not thousands, of dollars on two main supplements, Joint Bonus and Sugar Care, that use videos of Nguyễn as advertisements. All reported that the supplements did not work. Several online reviews of the supplement Joint Bonus on Amazon also warn that the product gives customers rashes, and is a 'scam.' Advertisement Not all products and supplements targeting Vietnamese immigrants online are scams. But Experts tell Documented that these kinds of scams are particularly powerful because they address real health needs in marginalized communities in their own language. They also explained that these accounts often fly under the radar because they are in languages that aren't part of the central focus of big tech companies — even if the YouTube ads the sellers use violate YouTube's own policies which forbid posting health misinformation and violate federal FTC regulations by promising false health benefits. Sugar Care videos, for instance, state that customers may not need insulin shots once they have regularly used the supplements. When Documented reached out to YouTube with examples of the ads, the company terminated the channels we had forwarded for their review. 'All the channels you provided have been terminated for violations of our Related : Meta, the company that owns Facebook, and Amazon, did not respond to a request for comment. Advertisement Documented purchased Joint Bonus and Sugar Care, the main two supplements that were advertised using Nguyễn's videos on Amazon, and sent them to two labs to conduct scientific tests to understand what was in the supplements. One lab, Flora Labs, looked for traces of prescription drugs in Joint Bonus and Sugar Care, which it did not find. Scientists at IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group found that Joint Bonus contained low levels of lead. According to the lab, a recommended serving of Joint Bonus would contain roughly 0.21 µg/serving, which is less than half of 0.5 µg per serving that would require a warning label for toxins under California's Prop 65 law. But while the prescribed dosage of the supplements — three tablets a day — would not require a warning label for the supplements, several customers told Documented that sellers would call them and push them to take more capsules, around six per day, which would come much closer to levels that would require a warning label, according to IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group. A herbal medical practitioner in California said that dozens of people called him and told him of side effects, including rashes and joint swelling. Our reporting also shows how online sellers are not only using footage of Nguyễn to sell their products but have also built sophisticated online tools to lure elders into their orbit. This includes targeted ads on YouTube, making fake Facebook groups and impersonating trusted figures in the Vietnamese community on fake websites that disappear as quickly as they are created. The advertisements that Documented analyzed were associated with 16 different telephone numbers with area codes from California, Colorado, Texas and Virginia. One number had an area code from Quebec. Advertisement The buyers who spoke to Documented said that once they called the advertised phone number, they were often harangued by people who spoke Vietnamese and who identified as doctors, pushing them to take more and more supplement capsules per day and to buy more bottles. None of the interviewees reported improved symptoms and all of them ended up spending between $500 and $2,000 dollars. Over the past six months, Documented and Documented emailed, texted and called Nguyễn for comment and did not receive a response by the time of publication. There is no evidence that Nguyễn was involved with the elaborate schemes built around Joint Bonus and Sugar Care but Documented also called 16 numbers affiliated with Joint Bonus and Sugar Care. Six numbers were no longer in service, nine did not respond to a request for comment, and one person texted back, saying they did sell the product and asked if we wanted to buy it though they did not answer any questions related to this story. Advertisement Immigrants have long been vulnerable to health-related scams and pyramid schemes, Pieter Cohen, a doctor at the Cambridge Health Alliance and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School said. Those who have limited knowledge of English are particularly vulnerable to health misinformation, making it easy for unreliable sources and predatory scammers to fill those information gaps. Related : But new online tools allow for much more specific targeting, Cohen said. Across social media platforms, health misinformation is thriving. For instance, misinformation around COVID-19 on YouTube outperformed quality information from government institutions, according to Immigrant communities are targeted 'because [they] have limited or no access whatsoever to healthcare in the United States,' said Cohen. Immigrants also say they have been treated differently due to their race and accents and that they have often experienced difficulties in accessing culturally appropriate healthcare in their language, according to a report from 'What you're describing is kind of a move from that to targeted marketing into the cyberspace and world of disinformation,' said Cohen. Multiple Vietnamese elders told Documented that they would see the ads for Joint Bonus and Sugar Care on YouTube and Facebook. 'They are all over,' said Dang. Nguyễn Dinh and Nguyễn Khue are a married couple who share a YouTube account. They provided their account's viewing history to their daughter Saoli Nguyễn, managing editor of Viet Fact Check, in New York. Their viewing history shows that the couple were targeted and watched at least 23 YouTube ads for both Sugar Care and Joint Bonus between October 6, 2023 and April 14, 2024, according to a Documented analysis. Twenty of those ads have been deleted since. The three remaining had 24,415, 29,648 and 147,229 views respectively. Documented also identified more than 50 accounts with channel names like 'jointbonususa2024″ or 'JointBonusUSA,' reposting videos featuring Nguyễn and other celebrities advertising the product but often listing different telephone numbers for viewers to call to buy the supplements. We also found various video ads for Joint Bonus and Sugar Care that have since been deleted. Documented found one having as many as 2 million views and another with more than 160,000 views. Sugar Care and Joint Bonus are also listed on at least eight Amazon pages, costing as much as With the help of Viet Fact Check, Documented found eight custom websites advertising Joint Bonus and Sugar Care, many of which have been taken down since Documented first accessed them. The sites make false claims about the product and its affiliations. One such website, for instance, that was hosted on the url Another site, registered at One of the people that online sellers impersonated was Cảnh Thiên, a provider of oriental medical care in Garden Grove, California. Thiên owns two shops where he sells herbal supplements in the greater Los Angeles area in Garden Grove, California, and has been a licensed Doctor of Oriental Medicine in the Southern California area since the 1990s, he said. Thiên told Documented that he began receiving calls from customers in the summer of 2023, complaining that they had bad side effects from a product called Joint Bonus that they said they bought from his website. But Thiên had never heard about the product before. Sellers of the product had registered at least two domains using his name, When Thiên learned about the Joint Bonus scheme he became extremely angry. He's the third generation of his family to be an herbal medicine provider and was furious that people would use his reputation among the Vietnamese community in California to sell older immigrants a product that was making his patients sick. Since learning about the impersonators, Thiên has filed for trademark for his brand, has been diligently collecting screenshots of fake ads that use his image and brand and has written up a long blog post about the supplement 'There are just a lot of scams out there and it's hard to know what's real,' said Dang. 'I no longer buy things online.' He said that he feels cheated. From now on he'll only buy supplements from actual stores. Viet Fact Check's Paul Nguyen, Bella Khuu and Saoli Nguyen contributed reporting to this story.
