Markets Wired

The Federal Trade Commission is mailing 442,898 refund checks totaling more than $8 million to people who bought weight-loss supplements that were deceptively marketed using illegal spam email, baseless weight-loss claims, and fake celebrity endorsements. Consumers who bought products marketed by Sale Slash, LLC and related defendants will receive checks averaging $18.24.

In 2015, the FTC charged a Glendale, California operation known as Sale Slash with using millions of illegal spam emails, along with false weight-loss claims and fake, unauthorized endorsements from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, to market unproven diet pills, including White Kidney Bean Extract and Pure Forskolin Extract.

The court order settling the FTC’s charges required the defendants to turn over corporate and individual assets and prohibits the defendants from making weight-loss or health-related product claims unless they are not misleading and are supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence. Under that order, the FTC will provide refunds totaling $8,077,304.07 to defrauded consumers.

Epiq Systems, Inc., the refund administrator for this matter, will begin mailing refund checks today. The checks must be cashed within 60 days or they will become void. The FTC never requires consumers to pay money or provide information to cash refund checks. Consumers who have questions, or believe that they are entitled to a refund but do not receive one, should call 1-888-456-3556.

The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about consumer topics and file a consumer complaint online or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357). Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, read our blogs and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.