Scamnesty 2011: After years of being overweight, Viv Hamilton from Exeter came across a website promoting a new berry that would help her slim down without exercise.
The site included lots of quotes from satisfied customers and before-and-after photos. It offered a free 30-day trial of the berry extract in pill form – she just needed to pay £3.95 postage. Viv entered her credit card details.
More money lost
After 10 days, she received the trial pills. She took them for a month, but they had no effect. Then more pills arrived. On her credit card statement, she saw she had been billed the initial £3.95 plus £75 for the next month’s supply. She tried contacting the company to ask for a refund but her calls and emails went unanswered. She never got a penny back and had to cancel her card.
This example of a ‘miracle health cure’ scam is fictional, but based on actual cases. The Office of Fair Trading is highlighting how scams like this happen during Scamnesty 2011.
Read more about Scamnesty 2011.
Please note: Action Fraud is not responsible for the content on external websites.
To report a fraud, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use our online fraud reporting tool.
See also:
Miracle health scams
Health scams
Advance fee fraud