Acai Patch with Green Tea Latest Variation on Credit Card Scam

About the time you think you've seen all the various "diet" versions of the Acai Berry, either offered as a stand-alone weight loss product, or in some form of a combo diet in which it teams up with Ultra Slim, Colon Cleanse, or in this case, Green Tea, you have to ask yourself how many more times will you see the Acai Berry product offered as some sort of miracle diet cure. The latest offering from the diet hucksters is the Acai Patch in combination with Green Tea. For anyone considering this latest attempt at abusing your credit card, let's examine the "pitch" for this amazing combo diet to see if there's even one shred of truth in it.

The opening pitch starts off with an assortment of promises: "Fight toxins, drop pounds, and lose inches fast!" Can anyone visualize what any of this means? More to the point, how does any of this support a weight loss claim? Now the Acai Berry, formerly available in either pill or capsule form being solicited on a free trial basis, is a "fast acting patch." While the Acai berries themselves may be just fine, about all we've been able to establish about them is that they "come from the Amazon," and that they're a "superfood." So how do the Acai berries function as a patch? "The active ingredients contained in the patch are absorbed into the skin - bypassing the stomach's enzymes which can destroy the active ingredients - allowing your body to instantly feel the power of Acai Berry and Green Tea as it helps purify, cleanse, boosts your energy and helps you get rid of unwanted pounds and inches on your thighs, hips, and stomach." If anyone can explain how this causes someone to lose weight, I'd like to hear it. "Helping you to get rid of unwanted pounds and inches," doesn't sound like any kind of a weight loss guarantee. Instead, the whole business of "absorbing ingredients into the skin in order to bypass enzymes that can destroy the active ingredients," their words not mine, sounds like a careful parsing of words in order to avoid legal claims. In other words, by not promising anything specific, the venders of the Acai Patch coupled with Green Tea can avoid legal liability. If they can be found or gotten on the telephone.

The usual pack of lies surrounding the solicitation of online Acai Berry products, including the Acai Berry in patch form, can be found. For example, the solicitation of the Acai Patch states: "Acai and Green Tea give celebrities the antioxidant fighting power they need for a healthy, lean body. Oprah and Rachael swear by it... Dr. Oz and anti-aging guru Dr. Nicholas Perricone recommend it." Oh, really? Oprah Winfrey and Rachel Ray have already put out statements on their web sites about how they do not endorse any online solicitation of Acai Berry products. Oprah's web site even has a search engine that will allow you to find her statement regarding how "attorneys for Harpo are looking into claims about online endorsements of Acai products." But what should really strike you as silly is how at the bottom of the web site soliciting this diet combo, is a disclaimer that says specifically, "this website and the Acai Patch are not endorsed by CBS News, NBC Universal Inc, ABC, or N.V. Perricone, M.D., Ltd. " "N.V. Perricone, M.D., Ltd, " happens to be the "anti-aging guru Dr. Nicholas Perricone!" In trying to make dieters feel like they're rubbing elbows with celebrities, the solicitation for the Acai Patch mentions Oprah, Rachael Ray and Dr. Perricone together in the same paragraph in very easy to read print in the middle of the web site. The disclaimer at the bottom in which "N.V. Perricone, M.D. " doesn't endorse the Acai Patch is written in very small print and is hard to find unless you're looking for it. How many of you would even know that "N.V. Perricone, M.D. Ltd.," is the same person as "anti-aging guru Dr. Nicholas Perricone"? Should you have any doubts about who Nicholas Perricone is, you can do a simple search on Google and find a detailed article on Dr. Perricone at a Wikipedia site.

The ridiculous claims continue. A while back, I wrote an article on the Acai Berry capsules in which an outrageous and unsubstantiated claim was made that "Brad Pitt was told by his personal trainer to take Acai Berry capsules in order to lose body fat for his role in Burn After Reading". The new Acai Patch come-on says, "Brad turned to Acai to get ready for his role as a personal trainer in the hit movie Burn After Reading." This is a classic case of word parsing. First of all, who exactly is "Brad?" All of us make the assumption that it's Brad Pitt, since we're familiar with the movie, but notice that Brad's last name is not used. In the previous attempt to solicit sales of Acai Berry capsules, a picture of Brad Pitt was shown, and the claim was that Brad PItt's trainer told him to take the Acai Berry capsules in order to get ready for his role in Burn After Reading. Before the claim about "Brad turning to Acai," we have the following celebrity endorsements: "Denise, Kate, Nicole, and Jennifer are just some of the hot celebrities who say they use Acai. Jennifer and Gwyneth endorse Green Tea. " Again, no last names, just the "suggestion" that we could be talking about Kate Winslet (what about Kate Beckinsale?), Nicole Kidman, and Jennifer Anniston, but nothing specific to link them to use of the Acai Patch.

Perhaps the most damaging claim the solicitors of this ridiculous Acai Patch and Green Tea combo make is that under the "FAQ" section, they claim that the patch is "a diet free way to lose weight." Then they add that the patch can somehow bypass "stomach enzymes" that destroyed the effectiveness of supplement pills. If this is true, then they've just admitted that they've been scamming people with their Acai Berry diet capsules and pills, costing people an average of $87.00 a month on an automatic shipping mechanism, triggered by recurring charges to customers' credit cards. There's no scientific study or double blind study that supports any of these absurd claims that an Acai Berry patch is going to bypass stomach enzymes. Interesting to note at the bottom of the website, is the usual disclaimer that "these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration." Another odd disclaimer appears, "This product is not available to California residents." This should raise a red flag about the celebrity endorsements because "Jennifer and Gwyneth" are likely to be California residents. And even if they aren't, the fact that the product isn't available in California should make the whole celebrity endorsement link to this product appear even more ludicrous.

So what's the bottom line with this latest diet fad combo? Yet another credit card scam. Period. But with a very diabolical twist. The website will not allow you to review the "Terms and Conditions" section unless you first give out your credit card number, along with the three-digit security code, The order page shows the "free trial" offer in which you're billed only $2.95 for shipping and handling. The duration of the trial period is 14 days. Never mind that Dr. Perricone's "recommendation," later withdrawn by the disclaimer at the bottom of the website, stated that "you'll lose 10 pounds in six weeks," or according to "Mary L." that "you'll lose 19 lbs. in 30 days." After 14 days, your credit card will be charged $39.95 per month on a recurring basis until you stop it. Of course you're also shown a "four month option" in which you can pay $123.95, or a one-month option in which you pay $49.95 as well. But the website, while displaying a box entitled "Terms and Conditions," won't let you view it until you complete all the guided steps for an order in which you sequentially provide shipping information, billing information, and then payment information. I managed to view the Terms and Conditions section by entering in a credit card I no longer use that has no available credit. I typed in a few incorrect digits just to see if the website detected an invalid card and it did. The swindlers selling this diet combo just want your credit card number. Again. And what they don't disclose is that even if you just pay the $2.95 shipping and handling charge for the "free trial," you've created a contract with them, authorizing them to continue to keep charging $39.95 every month to your credit card, starting in 14 days. A number of these "diet plan venders" try to completely escape any legal liability by stating in the Terms and Conditions section that if you want to take them to court, you have to try them in British Columbia or the Philippines. And that's assuming you can find them. So you be the judge. The celebrity endorsements are bogus. The sole weight loss "claim" that a patch is somehow going to bypass stomach enzymes, helping you to lose weight just doesn't add up. And it's clear the way the website operates, that they won't tell you about recurring charges to your credit card until you've given the number out and created a contract with them. After all this, if you still decide to try this stuff, what will you do if the products never show up and your credit card keeps getting charged? Who will you call? Think about it.