Many consumers are looking to lose a little extra holiday weight. BBB is ringing in 2023 with tips to help people avoid falling prey to overstated weight loss advertisements and scams. The desire to get in shape or lose weight fast creates a risk of being deceived by products that do not work as advertised, come with a host of unwanted side effects, or cause weight gain instead.
“Any time you see miracle claims for weight loss, be very skeptical,” Mechele Mills with BBB Central East Texas Said. “There is no such thing as a miracle cure for weight loss.”
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns consumers of dozens of false weightloss claims. Many consumers end up purchasing and using products such as body wraps, topical creams, dietary supplements, skin patches, and even earrings promising to “melt,” “flush,” “burn,” or “dissolve” away unwanted fat. Fraudulent weight loss products are often advertised alongside images of celebrities and fake endorsements. Additionally, deceptive free trial offers are very common, as investigated in the 2018 BBB study, “Subscription Traps and Deceptive Free Trials Scam Millions with Misleading Ads and Fake Celebrity Endorsements.” The study reported that consumers filed nearly 37,000 complaints and BBB ScamTracker reports related to deceptive free trial offers and fake celebrity endorsements since 2015, with an average loss per victim of $186. To help avoid weight loss scams, BBB recommends the following:
