Supplement Secrets Exposed &#187; Acai Berry Scams

Free Black Belt Course in Spotting Acai Berry Scams

How Do You Stop An Acai Berry Scammer From Scamming?

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Colorado Thinks Charging $40M for Free Acai Trials is a Tad Deceptive

Dan-N — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:52:35 +0000

I wonder if Attorney Generals from all the different states ever get together and swap stories? If so, they could have a great time debating who has the biggest acai berry scams going on in their state. We have already reported on the Attorney Generals in Florida, Texas, Illinois and Arizona taking action against acai companies that were deceiving the public – well you can now add Colorado to that list.

Same Acai Scam – Different State

I think we all know the game by now – consumer signs up for “free trial of Acai”, but then finds out they will be sent products each month and billed $80 a month. Consumer tries to cancel, but gets the run around. Here is the quote from the Colorado Attorney General John Suthers…

“The Office of the Attorney General learned through its investigation that Bezoni’s Arvada-based company, which has operated under the names Golf Nutrition Sciences and GNS, used so-called “free-to-pay conversion” marketing since 2005, which resulted in consumers unknowingly incurring ongoing payments for products that they initially believed were free. Consumers, according to court filings, signed up for free trials of products, such as Acai Berry Edge, Acai Berry Elite and Slim Seduction, and believed at the time they placed their order that they were authorizing only the shipping and handling charges for the free trial. When the free trial arrived, however, consumers also received a two-month supply of the product and were given a limited amount of time to return the product or face a nearly $80 charge within 30 days.”

- Attorney General announces Settlement with Arvada-based Nutra Pills, Inc.

Who Knew Giving Away Free Acai Could be Worth $40 Million a Year?

We are not surprised that companies will try to deceive consumers, what did surprise us was how successful they were!

The company generated $40 million in sales in 2009, nearly all of that was a direct result of its free-to-pay conversion sales.

This is just one company – doing over $40 Million a year in Acai sales with a “free trial” product. There are many more companies, operating in different states (and outside the USA) who are bringing in much more per year. Anyone who thinks this is not a major problem just needs to follow the money.

What is The Penalty for Deception?

First, Nutra Pills claims they did nothing wrong as part of the settlement. Still, they have agreed to refund money to consumers who have filed a complaint since December 2006. In addition, they have to pay a $100,000 fine – but half of that is suspended if they do not deceive anyone in the next 5 years. To date the company has refunded $9 million dollars and ceased doing business.

So There You Have it – Crime Does Pay!

Let us first legally state something – Nutra Pills does not admit to any wrong doing as part of the settlement. Nutra Pills reached a settlement with Colorado before a legal proceeding could determine if laws were broken.

So, you can draw your own conclusions if you think that Nutra Pills did anything wrong. We would ask – why shut down a business that is doing $40 Million a year in sales if you did nothing wrong? If you do believe they did something wrong, you have to ask if the punishment fits. We say NO!

The company made $40 Million in 2009 alone. So far, they have refunded $9 million and paid a $50,000 fine. The penalty is just not strong enough to stop others from doing this same form of deception. In fact, we would argue that this just gives acai scam companies a blue print of how to operate. Make as much as you can – then settle and close shop when the Attorney General comes knocking.

Let us know what you think?

Additional Resources:

The Julia Miller Health News 5, News 6 or News 7 Acai Berry Scam Exposed

Click Here to Watch A Screen Capture Video Exposing These Julia Miller Acai Scam Health Sites.

Oprah and Illinois Attorney General File Suit Against Acai Scam Companies

Oprah Writes, then Throws Book At Acai Scammers

Free Black Belt Course in Spotting Acai Berry Scams

How Do You Stop An Acai Berry Scammer From Scamming?

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The Most Disgusting Acai Scam We Have Ever Seen

Dan-N — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:07:12 +0000

We tried to come up with a clever, funny headline for this post – but we were too depressed to be funny. We have reported for so long about acai berry scams that it takes a lot to surprise us – but this latest acai scam surprised us! We have seen the fake acai review sites, been through the fake diet blog sites and of course all the free trial scams. But creating not one – but at least two fake news networks – that is incredibly disgusting.

Health News 7 – Bringing You The Best in Fake News

We recently got an email that linked to a “new report on the Acai Berry”. The news network is Health News 7 and here is a screen shot on their “story” -

Click The Image To See The Enlarged View

You really need to click the above image to see it full size. Here are a couple of things we want to point out -

Site is News7Health.Com and clearly looks like a real news site.
The reporter is shown in the photo and identified as “Health and Diet writer, Julia Miller”
The story goes on about how the reporter was skeptical, but some free trial Acai Berry helped her lose 25 pounds in 4 weeks.

This looks like a very impressive piece. We have a news reporter who tried Acai and saw amazing weight loss. There is just one little problem – IT IS ALL MADE UP!

Exposing News7Health.Com for the Scam It Is

The site looked strange to us and we had never heard of News 7 Health – so we decided to read more news stories from the site. We started clicking on the links on the top of the page – things like US, World, Business, Politics, etc – they are all dead links! This is a completely made up news site that uses affiliate links to try to trick people into buying a “free trial acai product” that will actually cost you $90 a month!

Don’t Be Disgusted Yet – It Only Gets Worse

I hope you have more disgust and outrage inside you – because it only gets worse! We did a little digging on the internet and we found this site -

Click Above Image to See Full Size

Again, click the above image to get the full disgusting view. Wow, looks like there is another “news network” called Health News 6. Guess what, they also did a story where their reporter took Acai and lost tons of weight. Let’s get a close up of these competing Health Reporters from New 6 Health and News 7 Health -

Julia Miller

Julia Miller ???

Wow – not only did Julia Miller lose weight by taking Acai – she also completely changed her appearance! Acai really is Amazing!

Stock Photos Allow Anyone To Create Their Own News Network!

These scammers are so lazy that they don’t even make an effort to cover their tracks anymore. Why bother changing the fake reporters name – just throw in a different stock photo. If one fake news site makes you money, then 10 fake news sites will make you more money.

The Evolution of Acai Scam – Making the Jump From Deception to Flat Out Fabrication

Unfortunately, Acai scams are not new – we have been exposing them for over 2 years. What is so disturbing with this one is the jump from deception to fabrication. The “old” acai scam was to mislead people into thinking they were getting a free trial of Acai. Buried at the bottom of the Terms of Service, in font too small to read, was the fact that you will be autobilled $90 every month. This is completely deceptive, but the scammers try to walk the line claiming everything is there if people just read the Terms of Service.

This new scam does not walk any lines – it flat out lies and fabricates. Julia Miller is not a health reporter, in fact she is not even real! She is whatever stock photo they can find for their site. The News 7 Health or News 6 Health sites – also not real. Just fake facades for someone selling Acai. Of course the comments, testimonials and before and after pictures – all made up. I guess the scammers were not stealing enough money by deceiving, so they had to evolve into full out fabrication mode.

FTC – You Need to Take Action – NOW!

We uncovered this scam in about 5 minutes. To our fine hard working friends at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – how about you spend a few hours building a case against these guys? These scams are costing Americans millions of dollars a year. Could there be more deceptive advertising than this?

Drop us a comment, let us know what you think. Are you as outraged as us?

View The Scam In Action With This Video

Click Here to Watch A Screen Capture Video Exposing These Acai Scam Health Sites.

Help Us Get The Word Out on This Acai Scam

The more people who know the truth about Health News 6 and Julia Miller – the less people who will fall victim to the scam. Let’s get the word out and let everyone know about this. Please link to this article, put it on your FaceBook page, Tweet about it – do whatever you can to make sure people know that this is scam. We really appreciate your help!

Update on Julia Miller Scams and The Quest for Real Acai (3/31/10)

Since we published this article on 3/12 we have had an incredible response. Thank you to everyone who has linked to this article, together we have helped thousands of people find out about the Julia Miller scam before they wasted their money. There is still more work to be done, we have seen the scammers start to change Julia Miller’s name – but we will keep after them.

As our regular readers know, we try to keep this blog as non-commercial as possible. However, we have had so many readers ask us if there are any real Acai supplements available, we felt it would be wrong not the mention the brand of Acai we love and trust. Perfect Acai is a 100% Pure Organic Acai supplement that involves no free trials, memberships or other games. It is simply real acai, available for purchase without any tricks or scams.

Update on Even More Disgusting Acai Berry Scam (4/29/10)

Just when you think these Acai scammers can not get any lower… they do! Take a look at our post on the Denise Randall US Medical Journal Acai Scam – it is so bad you really need to see it to believe it!

Additional Resources:

Oprah and Illinois Attorney General File Suit Against Acai Scam Companies

Oprah Writes, then Throws Book At Acai Scammers

Free Black Belt Course in Spotting Acai Berry Scams

How Do You Stop An Acai Berry Scammer From Scamming?

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How Do You Stop An Acai Berry Scammer From Scamming? Take Away His Ability to Accept Credit Cards

Dan-N — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:01:48 +0000

There is an old corny joke -

Q- How Do You Stop An Elephant From Charing?
A – Take Away His Credit Cards

Well, it looks like Visa has finally seen the giant Elephant in the room – All the Free Trial Acai Berry Scammers – and true to the joke, they have taken away their credit cards!

Visa Inc. Cuts Off 100 Merchants Who Have Been Deceiving Consumers

On December 17, 2009 Visa Inc. announced they cut off 100 scammers who used bogus marketing techniques to dupe consumers in the past six months. The scam involves what is called “negative option” or “forced continuity”. This is a process where the consumer signs up to get something for free (such as Acai or Resveratrol) and is just asked to enter a credit card to pay for shipping. What the consumer does not see is that there is tiny print buried pages deep in the site that says they give the company the right to charge them upwards of $90 a month and continue to bill them for products every month.

“The game here is to get people hooked, keep them on the hook for monthly charges as long as you can, and only stop making those charges when you’re forced to,” said Stephen Salter, vice president of BBB Online. BBB has received thousands of complaints about the problem, with multiple companies to blame. “The product is irrelevant to getting the charges on the card.”

Let’s All Welcome Visa Inc on Board the Stop Acai Scams Bandwagon – What Took You So Long!

Any regular regular of this blog knows that we have been calling for authorities to shut down these Acai scam sites for close to a year now. We have seen Attorney Generals from various states bring actions, The Better Business Bureau issue warnings and Oprah bringing a massive lawsuit against the scammers. Still, we have always felt the best way to stop these acai scammers was to hit them in the wallet and cut off their ability to accept credit cards. So, while Visa Inc is a little late to the party – we definitely welcome them and applaud their actions.

100 Merchants? Is That All the Acai Scammers Out There?

No – just a small drop in the bucket. The good news is this sends another signal to any company who practiced deception online that deceit does not pay. Maybe they were not caught in this round by Visa Inc. Maybe they were not named in the Oprah Lawsuit. Maybe the FDA and FTC has not filed charges against them today. Maybe the Attorney General in their state has not shut them down yet… but tomorrow is another day and they might be next.

We really believe the way to stop these Acai scams is to create an environment where the risk outweighs the reward. These scammers are all about making money and not getting caught. As they start to see more legal action taken, their risk of getting caught increases. Let’s hope everyone keeps applying more pressure so we can all believe in the old adage again – crime does not pay!

Additional Resources:

Black Belt Course In Spotting Acai Berry Scams

Visa Inc Information on Negative Option and Deceptive Marketing

Visa, FTC and BBB Press Release on Avoiding Online Scams

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Acai Berry Supplements Do Have Side Effects…When They Are Spiked With Dangerous Prescription Drugs!

Dan-N — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:30:58 +0000

A quick follow-up to our post yesterday – Who Can Explain The Mysterious Acai Berry Side Effects? In our article we talked about how we had heard reports of side effects when using Acai products, but it was probably due to other ingredients mixed in with the Acai. Well, it looks like we were partially right – it was from other ingredients, just not ones listed on the label.

How About Some Sildenafil To Go With Your Acai

On 12/8/09 Health Canada reported that they had identified a number of Acai supplements that contained the erectile dysfunction drug Sildenafil. Of course, Sildenafil was not listed on the label since it is a prescription drug. Health Canada states…

“The prescription drug is used to treat erectile dysfunction, but could cause serious side-effects in some people and should only be used under the supervision of a doctor.”

Well, it looks like we just figured out where the mysterious side effects with Acai were coming from. Health Canada goes on to state -

“But it notes that sildenafil should never be used by people taking a nitrate drug, for example nitroglycerine, as it can cause low blood pressure. Individuals with heart problems taking sildenafil would be at higher risk of heart attack, stroke, chest pain, high blood pressure and abnormal heartbeat. Other side-effects include headache, facial flushing, indigestion, dizziness, abnormal vision and hearing loss, Health Canada says.”

Health Canada found traces of Sildenafil in the following brands: Anti-Aging Acai Berry, Guarana Blast, Brazillian Pure, Anti-aging Vital Rez V, Weight Loss VitalAcai, Dietary Supplement Acai Power Blast and Muscle Mass.

To Avoid Acai Berry Side Effects – Use Pure and Tested Acai Brands

It feels like we say this about 100 times a day, but probably worth repeating – if you are going to try Acai, stick with a pure and trusted brand of Acai. Our brand of choice is the the Perfect Acai, because it has just one ingredient – 100% Organic Freeze Dried Acai and is a well established brand with a strong history of safe usage.

Additional Resources:

Read the Full Story from Health Canada (with photos of tainted Acai products)

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Arizona to Nature’s Acai Berry – Stop With the Acai Scams!

Dan-N — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:36:32 +0000

Arizona (AZ) is quickly becoming our favorite state. In June we reported how the Arizona Attorney General had reaches a settlement with the makers of Acai Pure for their deceptive “free trial” scams. Now Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard is making it clear that Acai Scammers are not welcomed in his state!

“An Arizona company pushes “free trials” of acai berry products online and then repeatedly bills customers for stuff they didn’t order and don’t want, the Arizona Attorney General says. The attorney general says Nature’s Acai Berry hides its scam in “faded print” that mentions a bill of $85.91 and a monthly “membership” fee of $29.95.”

-Court House News Service – 11/20/09

But What About that 14 Day Free Trial They State on the Site?

“Nature’s Acai Berry offers a “14-day risk-free” trial offer, allegedly for $1.99 plus shipping and handling, the state says in Maricopa County Court.
But the order button on its Web site conceals a “faded print stating that the ‘14-day trial offer’ began on the date of the order, and that unless the consumer canceled before 14 days passed by calling a toll free customer service number, that the consumer would be charged $85.91 … and would receive a new shipment … 30 days after their trial order date,” Attorney General Terry Goddard in says.”

-Court House News Service – 11/20/09

So I Just Need to Cancel in 14 Days – Right???

But the state says that many people who order the “14-day risk-free trial offer” do not get anything within two weeks, and when they try to cancel by calling customer service they face “excessive hold times, disconnections, and customer service reps who say their cancellations cannot be processed because “‘the computers were down.’”

Customers who were led to believe they had canceled found their credit cards were billed anyway, Goddard says.

-Court House News Service – 11/20/09

How Do These Acai Scammers Sleep At Night?

I have no idea. Even with all the recent legal action taken acai scam companies, it is amazing that they continue to try to pull all their dirty tricks. Well, let’s look at the positive and applaud the Arizona Attorney General for doing the right thing and protecting the rights of their citizens – they are seeking refunds and an injunction.

Additional Resources:

Oprah and Illinois Attorney General File Suit Against Acai Scam Companies

Free Black Belt Course in Spotting Acai Berry Scams

Information on Supplements

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Acai Scams – Will Good Triumph Over Evil?

Dan-N — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:02:36 +0000

If we had a dime for every minute we spent writing about Acai Scams we would be rich! And tired, from lugging all those dimes over to the bank… but that’s not the point. As the calendar turns from October to November we might actually see a very positive trend – a decrease in acai berry scams!

Oprah Lawsuit Might Finally Be Putting a Dent in Acai Berry Scams

Our unofficial review has shown the number of free trial acai scams increase every month since about July 2008. October 2009 looks like it may be the first month where the number of Acai free trial scams did not increase. Of course, it is almost impossible to scientifically measure this, but when we look at Acai related spam and Acai advertising – it did look like October was a cleaner month than September.

We have no doubt that the 267 Page Lawsuit by Oprah (Harpo Productions) had a lot to do with this trend. It was not just the companies that Harpo brought suit against, we believe it also had a ripple effect by scaring off many other acai scam companies. The Oprah lawsuit made it clear they would go after anyone who used her (or Dr. Oz’s) image to promote their Acai supplement.

Let’s Not Count Our Chickens Before They Hatch

Let’s not pull punches, there are still thousands of Acai Berry products being sold in deceptive and dishonest ways. If you have a shark tank filled with 100 sharks – it would be dangerous to jump in. If you then removed 70 sharks, I guess it is a little safer, but I would still be vary cautious about jumping in!

As we have said before, there are some quality Acai Supplements out there, you just need to be very careful before you give out your credit card to anyone.

We will report back at the end of November and see if this positive trend in decreasing the number of acai scam products can continue.

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Oprah Writes, Then Throws The Book At Acai and Resveratrol Scammers

Dan-N — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:10:34 +0000

We are so excited, this is like Christmas for us! For over 18 months we have written about Acai scams and Resveratrol Scams. We have explained that Oprah never endorsed any Acai or Resveratrol brands and the same was true with Dr. Oz . People often asked, if the Oprah and Dr. Oz endorsements were bogus, why didn’t Oprah and Dr. Oz sue? Well, they have, and boy o’ boy is it a whammy of a lawsuit!

Oprah Unleashes an Amazing 267 Pages of Legal WhipAs*

On 8/18 we first reported about Oprah suing 40 companies that were selling Acai and Resveratrol and illegally using her (and Dr. Oz) images, comments and trademark. Well, at that time we had not seen the actual court filing – but now we have and it is AWESOME!

Here is a link to the full Harpo Complaint in PDF form -

Harpo Complaint Against Acai and Resveratrol Companies (right click and Save)

You will want to Right Click and Save the above link as it is BIG – Over 35mb and 267 wonderful pages. It may take a few minutes to download – but it is worth it!

Do We Really Expect You to Read 267 Pages of a Legal Complaint?

No. To be honest even we couldn’t get through it all. But here are the quick highlights…

Pages 1-20 list all the defendants and the products that they market. This is like a Hall of Shame. You can now see a list of all the products that Oprah’s legal team believes infringed on her trademarks. Everyone deserves their day in court and people are innocent until proven guilty, but if you are thinking about buying a supplement mentioned in this complaint, you may want to rethink that!
Pages 28 – 31 and 38-39 some great screenshots of companies that used Dr. Oz’s image to deceive consumers. It is incredible how deceiving these sites are.
Pages 54- 80 – THIS IS THE BEST PART! This section lists every defendant and all the websites they used to promote their products. It is utterly depressing – we counted well over 1,000 websites that were used to deceive consumers into believing the Dr. Oz or Oprah endorsed these products.
Pages 81 – 120 – More exhibits on thousands of companies infringing on the Oprah and Dr. Oz trademarkets. This is an incredible example of all that has gone wrong with pay per click advertising .
Pages 121-130 – A list of over 185 domain names that contain Dr Oz or Oprah, without their permission.
Pages 132 – 171 – FORGET WHAT WE SAID ABOVE – THIS IS THE BEST PART! Oh, this is so hard, this whole complaint is so good. Here they list every site, show a screenshot and name the products. You will not believe that all these sites with Dr. Oz’s and Oprah’s photo had absolutely no endorsement from them!

You know – the whole complaint is great – just page through it all. It goes on and on with more exhibits about bogus ads, articles, reviews, press releases, etc. You will never view the internet the same after seeing how low people will go.

A Lie Repeated Over and Over Again Does Not Make it True

In case you can’t tell, we love this complaint. The complaint completely exposes these scammers for what they are – scammers (of course assuming the allegations in the complaint are true). The few companies who are trying to sell reputable acai and resveratrol supplements are terribly hurt by these dishonest sites. In addition, the complaint brings home a point we have been saying for years – just because you read a lie in many different places online, does not make it true.

The companies that were blasting the internet with websites and ads that claimed that Oprah and Dr. Oz endorsed their products were lying to you. They were lying often and lying repeatedly – but this 267 page complaint shows a lie told a million times over still does not make it true.

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Florida AG says to Pure Acai Berry Pro – Stop Scamming Us!

Dan-N — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:20:22 +0000

Anyway you cut it, it’s been a bad few weeks for Advanced Wellness Research (now called Netalab) and their products – Pure Acai Berry Pro and New Pure Acai Berry Burn. As we reported in August, Advanced Wellness Research was named in a lawsuit by the Illinois Attorney General for deceptive advertising on their acai products. The same day, Harpo Productions (producers of the Oprah Winfrey Show) also sued Advanced Wellness Research for using Oprah’s image without their permission and misleading customers.

Well, it looks like September is not getting any easier for them. The Florida Attorney General has now also sued Advanced Wellness Research for deceptive marketing of their Acai berry products. As is often the case with Acai Berry Scams, Advanced Wellness Research was offering a “free trial” but then autobilling customers $80 a month.

“TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced his office filed a law suit against a Miami company, a related company and company principals over allegations the companies engaged in deceptive marketing practices. Advanced Wellness Research, Inc. allegedly offered free trials for its products, including Acai berry supplements and whitening toothpaste, but failed to provide reasonable notice that customers would be charged approximately $80 on a monthly basis for products they did not intend to purchase.

The Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division began investigating the companies after receiving over 700 complaints about the companies. According to the complaints, consumers who tried to cancel the continuation program were unable to contact the company from which the products were purchased. ”

- Press Release from the Florida Attorney General”

Let’s hope that Attorney Generals from every state continue with these law suits against these Acai scam companies. If you live in Florida and have been victim to an Acai scam, you can contact the Attorney’s Generals office and file a claim – 1-866-9667226.

Additional Resources:

Full Press Release from Floria Attorney General

Oprah and Illinois Attorney General File Suit Against Acai Scam Companies