What Do Resveratrol, Acai Berry, and Colon Cleanse Products Have in Common?

Apparently, it wasn't enough for online scammers to double-scam their victims with worthless free trials of Acai Berry and Colon Cleanse products. They've now added a product called Resveratrol to the lineup, and in other cases, a membership to something called Fit Factory.

By now, it's old hat to discuss the numerous advertising links promoting some version of an Acai Berry and a Colon Cleanse product together, that some fictitious, well-intended dieter put together while watching Oprah or Rachael Ray. You click on a link that usually appears in a form like karen'sdietblog.com and when you click on it, you see a picture of a "dieter" usually claiming to be "a working mom, with two children, and a wonderful husband." Yep, life is "good " for our fellow weight loss companion, who happened to have the good fortune to be sitting in front of her TV one day, while she heard about Acai Berry pills on the Oprah show. The resulting brainstorm that came from this, gave us the two wonder supplements of Acai Berry pills and Colon Cleanse pills, which our fellow dieter claims helped her lose anywhere from 25-50 lbs., depending on the creativity of the actual writer of the diet blog, since Karen really doesn't exist.

By now, the modus operandi of these diet blogs and other links, promoting Acai Berry under a thousand different trade names along with Colon Cleanse, is familiar. Just sign up for a "free trial," which only costs about $4.95, charged to your credit or debit card, and "cancel any time you like." And if you're still hesitant and try to click out of the sales page that asks you to pay $4.95, a pop-up window appears, offering to "lower the shipping and handling charge to $1.95," if you still are thinking about the "free trial" offer. You have to ask yourself one very obvious question at that point: "If it costs the sellers of Acai Berry $4.95 to ship the product, why would they want to lose money at the rate of $3.00 on an order?" The easy answer is that it doesn't matter if they charge your credit card $4.95, $1.95, or even just ten cents; once the sellers have your credit card number and learn that you have available credit, you've just given the sellers carte blanche.

Once the sellers have your credit card number, the last thing these fraudsters have in mind is supplying you with anything that helps you lose weight, clean out your colon, feel more energetic, or whatever other bogus claim they made in order to induce you to try these modern snake oil products for "free." With regard to any Oprah endorsements, there are now quite a number of complainants on the Community section of the Oprah website. This is where you can find loyal Oprah fans telling their story about their "experience" with the Acai Berry Detox, Acai Berry Extreme, or any one of the ridiculous trade names invented by hucksters just trying to make a fast buck. Interestingly, no one is reporting the miraculous weight loss claimed in the fictitious diet blogs. The threads at this community billboard are, however, reporting unauthorized charges to their account, usually $29.95 for a membership to something called Fit Factory. Since it hasn't been reported whether Fit Factory comes with a newsletter or not, it's hard to determine any real value in the $29.95 charge exists, when the real intention of the Acai Berry free trial was to try Acai Berry pills and not to join an online fitness club.

The reports abound of how most of the consumers persuaded to go ahead with the "free trials" of the Acai Berry and Colon Cleanse products had more to do with perceived endorsements from Oprah, Rachael Ray, and Dr. Oz, because there are many people who trust these celebrities. The results shared at the community thread, tell a tale of consumer fraud that happened repeatedly. Many buyers received their products without shipping labels and no place to call to cancel. Still others never even received the products ordered. No one claimed to be aware of ongoing charges to their credit or debit cards beyond the initial "free trial" shipping charges. But the real fun apparently begins when you try to cancel your auto-shipping charges, which the sellers of these Acai Berry and Colon Cleanse products impose within 14 (fourteen) days, whether you received your products or not. When a customer tried to cancel his auto-shipping charges, only upon discovering they had already been assessed to their debit or credit card, he would have to call two separate customer service numbers, one for Acai Berry and one for Colon Cleanse. Frequently, the numbers were answered by a messaging service or handled by someone who barely spoke English. Long waits of half an hour were common in order to get through to someone, and many customers reported having to get new credit or debit card numbers due to the non-responsiveness of these fraudsters. It was not uncommon at all to be given a confirmation number, supposedly reassuring a customer that his order had been cancelled, only to find that there were still charges showing up for Colon Cleanse or for Fitness Factory. The whole ordeal is really just a variation on an identity theft scam, that forces you to have to take action with your credit or debit card to stop the scammers from using your credit card as if you're paying for their gasoline or restaurant charges.

And just about the time you thought Acai Berry has been debunked as a way to lose weight and to feel more energetic and all that, along comes Resveratrol. I find it amusing that according to one web site, that "there are about a dozen lawsuits pending against many of these copy-cats ...however, it will be years before they're worked out," in reference to Resveratrol. Sellers of this product claim that it will "erase 10 years from your face, and protect your cells from aging," among other things. So, we have a veritable "fountain-of-youth" product here, complete with the whole free trial come-on, that after 14 days results in another $88.00 or so, charged to your credit card on a recurring basis. This, too, has been hyped by Dr. Oz, ostensibly on one of the Oprah programs.

The main points I would like to make with all of this, regarding Acai Berry, Colon Cleanse, and now Resveratrol, is that while sellers of these products all claim Oprah, Rachael Ray, and Dr. Oz made positive statements about them, there can be no definitive evidence found anywhere proving they actively endorsed these type of products. About all we find are statements about Acai Berries being a form of "superfood," and that Acai Berries and Resveratrol may help to "increase energy." There may be nothing wrong with any of these products and it isn't my intention to say that people shouldn't use them. It's just that they are being advertised falsely. These products may indeed make you feel better, help provide antioxidants, and so on, but the outrageous claims that they can help you "lose 42 lbs in 42 days," and that they can "reverse the aging process," shouldn't be allowed in advertising. Acai Berry, Colon Cleanse, and Resveratrol products are likely being sold in many places such as a GNC store, where you don't have to give out your credit card number in advance of trying the product, and where you can make the decision to buy more later, if these products live up to their claims. My beef is with the online marketers of these diet and anti-aging products, making just about every health claim under the sun that there is, in connection with use of these products, and then just using your credit or debit card as a means to enrich themselves at the expense of their customers. If this type of practice continues, no one is going to be allowed to sell anything online because the risk of fraud will be too great.