Fake News Reports: the Latest Acai Berry Scam

Acai berries are the dark purplish fruit yielded from the acai palm tree. The acai palm grows in South and Central America, but the acai fruit is mainly harvested and widely consumed in Brazil. In the U. S., the acai berry first gained mainstream popularity when Dr. Mehmet Oz made a statement on The Oprah Show about the their healthy properties - he never actually endorsed any weight loss program associated with acai berries. From there, hundreds of manufacturers latched onto the statement made by Dr. Oz, and somehow fashioned it into a highly profitable acai berry weight loss industry. Now, one can find acai berry weight loss pills, and acai berry juice diet programs all over the place. It appears that an endorsement doesn't actually have to be made by Oprah in order to ignite like a wild fire; it merely has to be mentioned on The Oprah Show - that Oprah Winfrey is a bad mothershutyoumouth! Sorry, I digressed.

Acai berries are good for your health (so says the formidable Dr. Oz - on Oprah), and they have no calories, so they must be conducive to weight loss. So far so good, right? Wrong, there has been no scientific evidence to date to support the theory that acai berries promote weight loss. However, this little tidbit has not seemed to deter acai berry weight loss promoters one bit, and they actively participate in highly profitable acai berry weight loss scams. In the past, promoters of these diet scams have been quite creative in their marketing efforts to reel in unsuspecting victims. The latest deception in their arsenal of fraud to be perpetuated on the American public is the highly believable acai berry news story. This one involves acai berry weight loss pills instead of acai berry juice.

Acai Berry News Story Setup

So, here we go. One day while you're surfing the Internet, you notice a news story about a reporter who has decided to debunk the acai berry weight loss myth. You may or may not be searching for anything related to acai berries or weight loss, but the story seems interesting so you decide to check it out - most people cannot resist a good expose story.

When you click through to the site, you find it to be the corresponding website of the channel 6 television news station. The story is written by channel 6 news reporter, Julia Miller. In the story, Julia Miller writes about the prevalence of acai berry weight loss programs, and how she is very skeptical of them, so she decides to do an experiment to debunk the myth. "Alright now, we're going to finally get to the truth of the matter," you think.

After her "research" she has decided on using an acai berry weight loss pill program combined with a colon cleanse pill program (such is the common set up of the acai berry weight loss programs). As the story progresses, our antagonist documents her progress with the diet. Lo and behold, we find that our skeptical reporter is actually starting to see....positive results! What?

At the end of her acai berry weight loss experiment, our trusted channel 9 news reporter has lost even more weight than she intended, and she has been totally convinced that the acai berry weight loss program works. In the end of the story, the reporter winds up endorsing the product she meant to debunk. Underneath the reporter's story are links to free trials for both the weight loss pills and the colon cleanse pills. After such a wonderful debunking and reporting job, most people conclude that the acai berry weight loss program works - why not? The news lady says it does.

The Truth behind the Acai Berry Weight Loss News Story

Ok, so here's the scam: the whole thing is a realistic looking scam, albeit a good one, and it continues to hook people every day. Although the site looks just like any other television news website, it is a well made, deceptive advertisement. Most people get so caught up in the story that they fail to question its authenticity. In truth, there are many of these deceptive acai berry weight loss ads and everything on them is completely fabricated.

The "journalistic documentation" is really an instruction guide for how to use the acai berry weight loss pills in conjunction with the colon cleanse pills, and the "reporter" and her "news station" are figments of someone's seedy imagination. If you Google "Julia Miller news channel 6" you will find that neither she, nor her news station actually exist - you will also find that there are several variations of the story; a different news reporter and a different news station. But, it's all the same scandalous lie.

How the Consumer Gets Punked

In the end, the consumer believes the story and they click the links to get their free trials for both diet pill products. The story from here on out reads just like the rest of the incredibly disgusting acai berry weight loss scam stories. The consumer signs up for a trial, and eventually gets hit with exorbitantly high credit card charges.

The problem, besides unscrupulous business tactic, is that no one actually reads the terms of service, most of us simply check the yes box and keep on trucking - particularly when emotions are involved (weight loss is emotional for many people). Agreement to the terms of service is what makes it extremely hard for the charges to be removed, especially after the trial has ended - because the consumer did agree to it. Particularly grimy acai berry weight loss manufacturers have been known to charge the consumer before the trial ends. There are reports that some people actually wound up canceling their credit cards altogether.

The moral of the story is this folks: I could be wrong, but there is no magic berry hidden in the mysterious depths of the Brazilian Amazon that will cause you to lose extraordinary amounts of weight in an incredibly short amount of time. The only way to lose weight is to skip the diets and instead embark upon a healthy eating lifestyle and a consistent exercise regimen. People please, let's stop getting punked by acai berry weight loss scams - this is getting to be ridiculous.

- Sources -

The Center for Science in the Public Interest

Trans World News

The Original Acai Berry Site by Alive by Nature, Inc.