The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to purchase a sexual enhancement product promoted as FDA-approved and sold on social media.

Deputy secretary-general Surachoke Tangwiwat said the product labelled "Girly Sex" had never been examined or approved for use and customers are strongly advised not to use it. The FDA has not approved any advertising for such products, he said.

The distributors advertise the product as "drug," and so face charges of importing or sale of an unregistered drug, advertising without a permit and falsely promoting the product as a sex enhancement drug. Dr Surachoke said the FDA has sought cooperation from the Ministry of Digital Economy in examining the ads and having them taken down to curb the spread of false information.

Dr Surachoke advised people not to buy any drugs online in order to avoid substandard or fake products that could put their health at risk. He added that illegal or substandard health products worth more than 200 million baht had been confiscated so far this year. Sex enhancement products were top sellers after fat-loss products.

The FDA's warning came after police, led by deputy national police chief Wirachai Songmetta, seized large quantities of illegal sex enhancement products during a raid early on Monday morning in Bangkok's Sukhumvit area. It followed a tip-off that street vendors along Soi Sukhumvit 7 through 13 were selling sex-related products and many customers were teenagers.

Detained for further questioning were 15 vendors, who were initially charged with selling drugs without a permit and selling unregistered drugs. Pol Gen Wirachai said the raid was part of a police operation to curb sex crime, amid growing concern about the use of certain stimulant products by sex offenders.