Diet Deceptions
Posted by Hannah Rosenbaum on June 27, 2006 09:30 AM
'Miracle Diet' Web Sites That Thin the Wallet, Not the Waist
Bikini season- it just might be the diet industry's favorite time of year. What better way to encourage dieting and weight loss, than the fear of exposing a less-than-perfect body in a skimpy swimsuit on a crowded beach? As the summer heats up and the clothes come off, there is a heightened desire to get in shape, drop pounds, and score a beach-ready bod. Unfortunately, scammy Web sites selling diet aids profit from the weight loss hype. These sites lure consumers with dubious promises of miraculous weight loss solutions and misleading "free" trial offers.
Whether or not some of these products are somehow effective for weight loss, we're skeptical of grandiose claims, and we are concerned by the opportunity for consumers to be misled by deceptive billing practices. We went looking for sites selling diet aids with misleading advertising, and we came up with 75 sites to flag as yellow – one third of first page results for a Hoodia pill search, for example. We'll focus on specific examples from each of these misleading practices.
Lose 97 lbs in just 1 minute!
You want to believe it. Just pop a pill and watch as the pounds melt off your body. Well, such promises are too good to be true. But that doesn't stop some unscrupulous vendors from making fantastic claims that are unrealistic and unsubstantiated.
Bioglobelabs.com aggressively describes its BetaSlim diet pills as "scientifically proven" fat absorbers that work for everyone and can help dieters lose 10 pounds of fat in a week and upwards of 100 pounds over time without altering food intake or exercise regime. The site attempts to legitimize its claims by asserting that the product is supported by years of scientific research and used to be available only by prescription. Despite these proud statements, the site provides no list of ingredients or analysis of their "in-depth" testing. Meanwhile, their claims oppose many "common sense" and time-proven principles of weight loss.
BetaSlim's questionable claims
One of the latest diet pill ingredients on the market is hoodia, a South African plant which purportedly reduces hunger. But according to mayoclinic.com, "there is no conclusive evidence that hoodia is an effective appetite suppressant." Nonetheless, venders of hoodia products tout it as the ultimate diet solution. Nitetrim.com describes its hoodia product as a "revolutionary breakthrough" that was formerly only available to celebrities and will allow you to "sleep the weight away."
The FTC warns users about bogus weight loss claims and advises users to approach these sites with skepticism. It even set up a fake diet supplement site to illustrate misleading advertising practices. This teaser site looks remarkably similar to many of the real sites we visited.
The FTC's teaser site illustrates misleading weight loss claims.
We're all #1?
Many diet supplement sites proclaim that their products are the absolute best or strongest. Hoodia45.com claims their pills are "stronger than any other hoodia product." Curbyourcravings.com boasts that it has "the most powerful hoodia patch on the market!" Bioglobelabs.com describes its product as the "strongest weight-loss formula in the world." We have to wonder if there is a credible basis for these comparative statements. They can't all be "strongest" and "most powerful."
Desertburn.com is one of many sites claiming to offer the #1 hoodia supplement.
I know you are, but what am I?
Many sites also make claims that while their products are "real" or "pure," consumers should beware of other sites selling products with fake ingredients and fake certificates of authenticity. Hoodia-dietpills.com claims that their pills are "the only true 100% pure Hoodia Gordonii pills in America," but mh57.com states that their product is "America's only pure Hoodia Gordonii weight loss supplement." Who to believe? How about none of them?
Almost famous
HoodiThin.com promotes its diet pills by referencing the popular news show 60 Minutes.
HoodiThin.com attempts to capitalize on press coverage of the hoodia plant. This strategy could mislead users into thinking that HoodiThin.com's products have been specifically featured by news reports. Referencing CBS's 60 Minutes gives an aura of credibility. But while 60 Minutes may have done a story on hoodia in general, it never mentioned the HoodiThin brand specifically. Moreover, 60 Minutes' story actually pointed out potential legal and safety issues with hoodia supplements. So while hoodithin.com seeks to benefit from the reputation of the popular news show, they may not actually want their customers to read the report.
A diet for your bank account
Yahoodia.com free sample offer
Hoodia sites often offer free samples to get users to try their products, but these free trials often end up costing consumers more than just a nominal shipping and handling fee. For example, by signing-up for a free 21 day sample of pills from yahoodia.com, users are also subscribing to receive a 60 day supply of pills every 50 days – for which they will be charged $69.95 plus $6.95 shipping and handling, for each shipment. The first 60 day supply will be sent out two weeks after you order your free sample, and auto-shipments will continue indefinitely (until the subscription is canceled). The details of the trial offer are disclosed at the bottom of the order page and could easily be missed. The payment page includes a disclaimer that the buyer has read the site's "business terms." But, there is no link to a Terms and Conditions Agreement, so even sophisticated buyers may not realize that there were terms to read. It's likely that some users will sign-up for the free trial and not realize the resulting monetary obligations until they see their credit card statements. Customers may not end up losing weight, but there's a good chance they will lose money.
Hoodiamiraclediet.com's free trial could have implications for both your wallet and your inbox.
Hoodiamiraclediet.com similarly offers a free 7 day trial that leads to auto-charged shipments every two months. But in addition to putting pressure on your bank account, signing-up for this offer could also weigh on your inbox. According to the site's privacy policy, providing an e-mail address to the site is a "request that [the site] share your personal information with third parties to receive marketing communications." After we submitted a unique e-mail to hoodiamiraclediet.com, we received 140 spammy e-mails per week.
Tightening the belt on sketchy sites
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, roughly 66% of US adults are obese or overweight. In a country where weight concerns stem from both a growing obesity epidemic and the societal pressure to look good, there's no shortage of demand for diet aids. In fact, the diet industry is booming: consumers spend over $30 billion per year on diet and fitness products. So it's no surprise that scammers want to earn a piece of the profits.
The Web is often the first place people turn to look for diet and weight loss tips: according to Yahoo's keyword selector tool Yahoo had roughly 5.4 million searches in May for "diet," "weight loss," "hoodia" and related search terms. Given that Yahoo accounts for 23% of all searches, an estimated 23.5 million total searches for diet related terms are conducted each month. Finding unbiased reliable health information online, however, is not always so easy. Consumers run a high risk of being misinformed about weight loss issues and misled into wasting money on sites with questionable products and business practices. Therefore we've rated these sites yellow to urge users to be cautious when visiting these sites.
Where to find trustworthy weight loss and diet information:
FDA: How to Lose and Manage Weight
MedlinePlus: Weight Control
FTC: Finding a Weight Loss Program that Works for You
FTC: Diet and Fitness
Mayo Clinic: Weight-loss pills: What can diet aids do for you?
Comments
Hannah:
Medifast, Inc. on that 75 list?
http://www.medifast1.com/index.asp
I want to find the 75 names if you have them. What is your phone # as there is no link to the 75 you mentioned that I could find
Thanks.
Posted by: Hal Schoenfeld | June 28, 2006 09:28 AM
Hannah,
I've been watching a number of these Hoodia diet drug sites, which seem to come and go with great frequency. As you noted, there seems to be a great deal of confusion about what's valid information and what is "urban legend".
I would hate to label all such sites as potential scams, because there are a few legitimate herbal-remedy sites, that have been around for a while and try to offer balanced, factual advice and information.
However, my experience indicates that a number of SPAM operators have latched on to Hoodia as popular marketing tool. They generate topical websites with a polished, professional appearance. They register dozens of fresh domains and then populate them with clones of these web templates.
In a massive spam campaign, they promote these sites for a few weeks, looking for any response. Ideally, a visitor leaves behind a fresh email address and possibly a name. Even better, if they actually get a sale, they can collect a shipping address and credit card number. They can ship some generic herbs that cost 10 cents, and charge $30. With careful wording, they can evade both FDA and FTC scrutiny, Even if just one person in 10,000 responds, the operators can make thousand$.
The more unscrupulous operators can then sell the validated email addresses and customer information on the black market. These proven email lists are the real bread and butter of these outfits. After a few weeks, they abandon the domains after they've been blacklisted for reported spam or fraud.
I don't want to suggest that all sites are like this, but if you look at some of the most advertised sites you'll discover some disturbing patterns in a high percentage of them.
When I look for fraudulent sites, I always try to match the URL with the product.
If the site claims to sell HoodiaLife, but the domain name is www.dzx678y.info my "spidey-sense" starts tingling. Usually legit companies choose a sensible name.
I also look to see if the vendor lists a valid physical address and customer service number and perhaps a short description in an "About US" page. Most of the fraud sites have pages of testimonials, pictures and glib promises, but rarely ever list a verifiable contact address. Instead they post a Yahoo email address or use a blind web form. There is no way to track the operators or talk to a real person.
Legitimate websites are also registered to real people and have usually been around for a while. I've noted that if you check the registration data at places like http://dnsstuff.com you will find most fakes were created within the last few weeks. They'll often be registered to someone in China or a Soviet republic. Taking the step to verify DNS registration is extreme, but before giving up personal information to an unknown website, it seems prudent.
Both SiteAdvisor and the Netcraft toolbar ( http://toolbar.netcraft.com ) can help winnow out unknown and untrusted sites from well established sites. I recommend both.
Thanks for doing a blog on this topic!
Posted by: TomS | June 28, 2006 04:48 PM
BTW -- since you drafted your blog, http://mh57.com has "gone dark". It's Hoodia content is replaced with a generic searchportal.information.com page which offers pop-up advertising and affiliate links designed to divert unsuspecting surfers towards some paid advertisers.
In checking further, I see the domain was created on: 13 May 2006. Currently hosted at 204.13.161.23, which is in the Los Angeles office of Oversee.net, the same server holds 470,716 orther domains. This is probably a server used for light duty "domain parking" while this name cools off pending reuse or transfer.
See http://whois.domaintools.com/mh57.com for registration and host details.
Posted by: TomS | June 28, 2006 07:24 PM
Spot on with this post, i think the government should do more to protect the consumer. If I want diet information I use Go-advise.com , they have weight loss guides, reviews and ideas you can read freely and come up with your own diet plan.
thanx
Posted by: Joe | August 18, 2006 07:21 PM