When she insisted on returning the pills, she was told to fill out a request form and did so repeatedly to no avail. Instead she was offered a 35 percent discount. “Yes, it wasn't $20,000, or even $2,000, the amount is not the point." Cannot return unopened bottle of pillsĮlizabeth spent hours on the phone with the company that mailed the pills to try to return them, but was told she could not do that. “You don't know how much this upsets me,” the former social-services intake supervisor says now. Once the pills arrived, she never opened the bottle. Her saga also started with a pop-up, like the countless ads she'd ignored in the past. (The two women spoke to AARP on the condition their surnames not be used.) The second woman, Elizabeth, 89, who lives amid the mountains of North Carolina, used a credit card to buy keto diet pills. “I'm embarrassed,” she says, “but I want to warn others.” Similar scam, different victim Having canceled her old debit card and obtained a new one (with a different number) to prevent more unwanted charges, she wants to prevent others from falling victim. Refunds are harder to obtain when debit cards are used. Federal law affords consumers more protections for credit-card purchases in fraud cases, consumers generally are on the hook for up to $50 only. When Marjorie reached out to her credit union, she was told that because she'd used a debit card, she could not recover her cash. (A writer left her contact information with “Tony” on a follow-up call, but no one called back.) Credit union says money is lost
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When AARP called the phone number to ask about Marjorie's experience, a woman on the line gave her name as “Hazel” and called herself a “senior representative.” When asked her full name and to speak to someone about a fraud allegation, the line went dead. She asked to speak to his supervisor, but Eon said no one was available because everyone was working from home due to COVID-19. This time the man who answered sounded like Sam, but identified himself as “Eon.” He offered a steeper discount, which Marjorie declined. Sam refused to transfer her to his supervisor, so she hung up and called back. Similar voice, two namesĪt the one-month mark, she called back and spoke to a man who gave his name as “Sam.” He offered her a 50 percent discount for the pills, but she insisted on getting all her money back. “I was told I would have to try the product for the full 30 days,” Marjorie remembers. “I was knocked off my feet when I found out how expensive it was,” says Marjorie, a pensioner who earlier worked in employee training for the federal government.Ībout two weeks after she placed the order, she called a phone number on her invoice to cancel the purchase. Then the pills arrived along with a so-called “cleanse” that she did not order she was charged $189.90 for the products, bringing her total costs to $203.80.
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The ad touted a 30-day supply of keto pills for the cost of shipping, $6.95, saying the pills would be free if the order was cancelled within 30 days.Īt first she noticed her debit card was used twice to pay the $6.95 shipping, for a total of $13.90. The ad for Ultra Pure 360 claimed the pills would help her quickly lose more weight than a keto diet alone. Marjorie, 83, who lives near Tulsa, Oklahoma, says her story began with a pop-up ad on her smartphone. The women shared their ordeals amid long-standing warnings from federal officials that weight-loss scams are common and put consumers at risk of losing more than cash, since dietary supplements can jeopardize one's health. The two octogenarians who lost cash, not pounds, tell cautionary tales as many people are struggling to lose “pandemic pounds” put on while self-isolating and avoiding the gym. She says the helpline has heard from victims who lost more than $1,000 in diet pill scams generally. Since March, AARP's Fraud Watch Network Helpline has logged more than 25 reports of keto pill scams, an uptick from previous months, says AARP's Amy Nofziger, who oversees the free helpline, 1-87. Keto is a popular - and controversial - weight-loss craze. These cases see fraudsters promise pills that supposedly will help dieters shed pounds faster than just adhering to a keto diet's high-fat, low-carbohydrate regimen. En español | Two women in their 80s just lost more than $200 each in keto diet pill scams.
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