Say Au Revoir to Diet Ripoffs

The Federal Trade Commission and Canada’s Competition Bureau are working together to educate consumers about worthless products purported to produce weight loss. They are announcing today the translation of an educational “teaser” Web site about these ripoffs into French. The new French translation is at http://www.wemarket4u.net/fatfoe/francais/. The Web site is in English at http://wemarket4u.net/fatfoe/ and in Spanish at http://www.wemarket4u.net/fatfoe/espanol/.

The teaser Web site is designed to reach consumers surfing online for weight-loss products. At first glance, the Web site appears to advertise a new product that guarantees fast, easy weight loss in all users, with no diet or exercise necessary to lose up to 10 pounds per week permanently. In reality, the claims made for “FatFoe” represent “red flags” to consumers because they are almost always false or misleading. When consumers try to order FatFoe, they learn the ad is a warning from the FTC and the Competition Bureau of Canada about diet rip-offs. Through the joint effort, the FatFoe Web site has also been registered in Canada at http://www.fatfoe.ca.

More information from the FTC about diet and fitness is available at http://www.ftc.gov/dietfit/ and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.