Acai Berries Back in the News

Posted By elissa on Apr 21, 2011 | 3 comments

And not in a good way… The LA Times explains:

The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit against 10 companies the agency says are using fake news websites to market acai berry weight-loss products.

The FTC said the defendants operate websites that seem like legitimate newsgathering sites but actually promote deceptive advertisements urging consumers to buy acai berry products.

The sites use names and logos of major media outlets such as ABC, CNN and Consumer Reports while touting articles documenting a “reporter’s” own experience with acai berry supplements. The stories often claim that the reporter lost 25 pounds in four weeks.

“Almost everything about these sites is fake,” said David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The weight-loss results, the so-called investigations, the reporters, the consumer testimonials and the attempt to portray an objective journalistic endeavor.”

Oh… and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s also going after another scammer:

Madigan filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against Ishmael Lopez Jr., of Sauk Village, Ill. The Attorney General alleges Lopez operates websites featuring fake news articles that advocate for acai berry diet products and other items, ranging from bodybuilding supplements to teeth whitening agents.

“Consumers across the country visit these fake marketing sites that are carefully – and illegally – disguised to represent professional news organizations, only to wind up unknowingly debited for extra diet products,” Attorney General Madigan said. “These Internet con artists are profiting from their purposely deceptive marketing ploys.”

The Attorney General alleges that when consumers click on links from Lopez’s sites, including thecnnews.org, cnnewsat6.com, newsline07.com, they are transferred to other websites to sign up for “free” trial product offers. But, Madigan said, consumers are actually automatically enrolled in a subscription that charges them for additional products—unless the consumer cancels within a 14-day period. Consumers are not notified of the cancelation requirement.

It’s an old, old story… but these “zombie scams” just refuse to die. I hope the FTC and Attorney General Madigan rake these clowns over the coals.