United States - FTC Halts Illegal Spammers Deceptive Marketing of Bogus Weight-Loss Products

The FTC has obtained a court order temporarily halting an operation that allegedly used millions of illegal spam emails, along with false weight-loss claims and fake, unauthorized endorsements from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, to market its unproven diet pills. The court order halts the defendants illegal conduct, freezes their assets, and appoints a temporary receiver over the corporate defendants. The Commission is seeking to recover money from the defendants that would be used to provide refunds to consumers who bought the defendants diet pills.  The FTC complaint charges that the defendants behind Sale Slash violated the FTC Act and the CAN-SPAM Act. According to the complaint, the defendants used affiliate marketers to send illegal spam emails and post banner ads online that led consumers to fake news sites designed to appear as if an independent consumer reporter, rather than a paid advertiser, had reviewed and endorsed the products.  Since 2012, the defendants allegedly have marketed and sold a variety of products nationwide, including supposed weight-loss supplements such as Premium Green Coffee, Pure Garcinia Cambogia, Premium White Kidney Bean Extract, Pure Forskolin Extract, and Pure Caralluma Fimbriata Extract. For consumer information about avoiding fake news websites, see Trusting Your Sources.