Most of us are sure we'd never fall for a scam, no matter how desperate we are. But every year companies reel in plenty of customers eager for weight-loss gimmicks, baldness cures, even creative (and illegal) uses for medical equipment.
Among the latest crop of schemes turned up by watchdog agencies:- Hair Apparent. It was a painless, nonsurgical "procedure," the infomercial claimed, that would gradually add strands of hair to a person's head and provide a permanent solution to hair loss. Definitely not a wig, telemarketers assured callers. But clients who forked over as much as $2,000 for the "process" pitched by InVisions Inc., of Mount Laurel, N.J., found they had bought the very thing they were trying to avoid: a wig.
"Some thought it was not even a very attractive one," says Charles Harwood of the Seattle branch of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which investigated the case.
- Wheels and Deals. According to an FTC complaint, representatives of Motion Medical Inc., of Blacklick, Ohio, made unsolicited sales calls to disabled people and persuaded them to order medical equipment, such as electric scooters, which would be fully covered by insurance. The sales reps contacted the consumers' doctors to get prescriptions for the equipment and submitted claims to insurers.
The catch: The claims were for more expensive equipment than consumers received, and Motion Medical pocketed the difference, says the FTC.
- Sole Food. Wouldn't it be great if you could lose weight every time your feet hit the floor? With Dr. Metz's Slimming Soles, you could be footloose and fat-free - or so the ads claimed. The $19.95 insoles, inserted into regular shoes, were said to stimulate "foot reflex centers," boosting metabolism.
The FTC recently charged BodyWell Inc., of New York City, with making unsubstantiated claims and dragging its feet on deliveries.
- Bringing up baby: the prequel. There were plenty of takers among prospective parents when a Gaines-ville, Ga., company began offering "keepsake videos" of Junior frolicking in the womb. Donna Jans, owner of Fetal Fotos and a registered diagnostic medical sonographer, produced ultrasound videos for $75 but made no claims of providing a diagnosis.
Too bad. Ultrasound has been deemed safe as a diagnostic tool but is not approved for other uses, says the Food and Drug Administration. Last year, U.S. marshals seized her equipment. Jans is back in business but now requires a prescription.