Consumers Take Caution of Acai Berry Weight Loss Fraud

     Internet marketers have long ago figured out how to sell diet aides online using bogus headlines that grab attention, and to keep consumers interested. But the recent new AcaiBerry "weight loss" weight loss advertising goes to the extreme. Just recently, while reviewing AcaiBerry diet ads on the website of a popular news program, a headline blared out at me "Leonia Mom sheds 41 lbs." Leonia, the New Jersey town where I live, has a pretty small community.

While I don't personally know all the moms in town, I probably know most of them by sight. Curious, I clicked. It was no one I had ever seen. Giving it the benefit of the doubt, I read on. In the body of the supposed "blog" the alleged author said she was from "Raritan, New Jersey" and she had lost a lot of weight with magical little acai berries. Smelling a rat, I called my best friend in Florida and asked her to click on the same ad. For her it showed up as "Miami Mom loses 41 pounds" - although it showed the same picture and name and story.

Personalization in online ads is nothing new. In fact, that's one of the things that makes the web such a powerful marketing medium - the power to serve up ads based on your behavior online. Websites put a small bit of code on your computer (called a "cookie") and can tell things like where you're from (hence "Leonia mom" vs. "Miami mom"). And, of course, when you do searches on Google, the "results" that come up on the top and sides are paid ads, not real results at all.

These ads are based on clear outright lies. There is no "Leonia mom" or "Miami mom" - just a blog coded to lie to you based on where your computer says you live. There are other problems with the fat loss fraud. In fact, my "Miami mom" friend told me that she had clicked on one such ad through her Facebook profile and ordered the "free acai berry 30 day trial," only to have a nightmare of a time trying to stop the company from billing her credit card a auto-bill $60 monthly fee. The ads seem convincing and use Rachel Ray and Oprah as "celebrity sponsors" but in fact use deceptive practices to lure you in and charge for acai berry weight loss supplements of questionable value.

Consumers beware! As alluring an idea as a "magic acai berry weight loss" claim is, remember, there is no such thing as a silver bullet (or, for that matter, a free lunch). So don't be lured by ads that say a mom in your town dropped 47 pounds. If she did, she probably did it the old fashioned way - diet and exercise. And while there are some weight loss aide that can help, clearly acai aide slimming claims should not be taken as part in parcel as a real substantiated diet products.

This is a dieter's response to the Acai Berry scam I've exposed here, "I clicked on the Acia pills and got a bottle and when I went to get the colon cleanse THEN realized that it said "Terms and Conditions" and I read it $88 a MONTH for the Colon cleanse WHAT!?!?!>! No way! Thank God I hit the CANCEL button.. now I just have to get rid of ONE of the scams when it comes in..I am going to go to my bank and deny the charges and make sure NOTHING is allowed through my account for that EVER again! I realize it IS MY fault though...when you are overweight..we are an EASY target! We have to do so much in life, yet can barely do it because we are fat. Which makes us more fat and it is a never ending cycle. I am going to do the good ole diet and excersise and change my life and pray it works!"

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