Not sure what is going on in the UK, but in the US this is very much not bullshit. The media have whipped the problem up into something it is not, though, as usual.
We have a counterfeit THC cart problem here where the weed is grown with stuff that kills you and/or mixed with oil binders that can kill you. Yes, the problem is small because it comes from this smaller (than traditional vaping or smoking) group of people running into these products. So, yes, we are talking hundreds of deaths only, for now. But, it's not because of just vaping and the numbers are much smaller due to minor medical issues. They are putting contaminants in conterfeit carts that kill people, full stop.
This is a real issue where a couple of oil binder suppliers mysteriously closed shop and disappeared a few weeks ago when people started dying.