Infomercial scam artist?
Today while I was watching TV I came across an infomercial that I’m sure you’ve seen before. It’s that charismatic guy named Kevin Trudeau selling his “‘Natural Cures’ they Don’t Want You to Know About” books. Normally when I see this I am mildly interested but never enough to actually spend money. This time was different; he was offering his books for FREE! Can you believe it? All you have to do is pay the shipping and you will receive the books for free!
I figured there must be a catch but it can’t hurt to find out what that is right? So I called and asked for the free books. The woman I was speaking to got my credit card info and started going through a laundry list of other products and services they were offering. Weight loss secrets book? Quit smoking book? Inspirational tapes you can play in your car? I said no to most of them except for 2 additional books for $10 each which I figured I could give away as gifts.
Then she asked if I would like to transfer to someone else to hear about a free vacation package they were offering. Sure I said (I’m always into free stuff). “Is that a YES?” she asked. Wondering why I had to use that exact word, I repeated my answer with a “yes”.
When I was passed to the next person, he somehow convinced me to allow him to charge $193 to my credit card for Florida stays worth a total of 10 days at various hotels, along with a 2 person pass for Disney Land, all i had to do was sit through 90 minute time share meetings. I got off the phone feeling like I might have just been duped. I immediately went online and looked up the company that I had bought the package from. Their company name is Summer Bay Resorts and I didn’t have any trouble finding scam reports on them.
This got me thinking, if Kevin Trudeau would associate himself with a company like this, then what kind of guy is he? Should I be listening to anything he says?
I of course looked him up, and got my answer. I read in this cleverly titled article “What Kevin Trudeau Doesn’t want you to Know” that in addition to being fined millions of dollars for making false claims, and spending 2 years in jail for credit card fraud, he has been banned from “appearing in, producing, or disseminating future infomercials that advertise any type of product, service, or program to the public” for the rest of his life. Could this be why he’s giving the books away for free? He’s not selling the products in the infomercial; he’s getting people to call and he’s selling the products over the phone. Clever boy.
I have 7 days to cancel my vacation package, which I will be doing immediately. I may also try to cancel my book order. I’m not sure if it’s even worth the cost of shipping.
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Infomercials are evil. They cost the advertiser a fortune to put to air so it goes without saying that they plan to extract maximum profit from every customer.
A little shopping around will often find you the same product for much less.
Comment by Ted — October 22, 2007 @ 4:39 am
These kinds of people ought to be put behind bars. All they have in mind is selling crap for hundreds of your hard-earned dollars. Geez!
Comment by bosley — October 22, 2007 @ 2:39 pm
I agree…and what if someone decided to give up on their medical treatment to focus on this guys fake cures? What if they died because of it?
Comment by Aimee — October 23, 2007 @ 9:24 am
Their objectives is to get fortune out of people. Once stepped on their trap, there is no more way out of it. Takes time to look around get more information before really commit into one.
Comment by Poster Maniac — October 25, 2007 @ 11:51 pm
I use to watch the Ronco dehydrator commercial all the time when I was young. I really enjoyed watching them make turkey jerky. I always wondered who in the world purchased they dehydrator.
Often times I come across someone who has purchased something from an infomercial and then never used it. It makes me think about the whole infomercial culture.
Comment by customer feedback management — October 26, 2007 @ 1:07 pm
They should be ashame of them self. Yikes, everyone should be careful nowadays, scam were every where. Instead of earning the correct way, they find short cut by scamming.
Comment by Omer Altay — October 28, 2007 @ 12:51 am
some of these scams are just ridiculous. My favorite ones that i love laughing at are the ones coming from “african princes” that need you help to get their money out of the country. ludicous.
Comment by Gorilla Trades — October 31, 2007 @ 6:59 pm
wow and so many people fall for this crap
Comment by Bathing Ape — November 18, 2007 @ 7:43 am
Wow, thanks for this scam warning! As I’m sure you have noticed by now, it’s always a good idea to do a little research on any companies that might be questionable before actually making purchases from them. It is often fascinating to see what kinds of information a simple Internet search can turn up when you use the right keywords…
Comment by Internet Marketing Blog — December 19, 2007 @ 2:48 am
the best part of those commercial line is when the paying actor came up and show their stupid problem and “luckily” it will solve by the power of the “magic” stuff that commercial offer.. what a nuts.
Comment by moregadget — December 27, 2007 @ 9:38 pm
This stuff is unbelievable the way that can trick you into buying things.
Comment by Gino Green Global — January 31, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
TOTAL SCAM. SUPER SCAM. READ ALL THIS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FOM THE MULTIPLE SCAMS YOUR CREDIT CARD GETS SENT OUT TO THAT YOU HAVE NO IDEA BOUT….
HUGE SCAM…. I’VE BEEN THROUHG IT ALL AND GOTTEN SOME MANY BACK THROUGH LAWYERS BUT STILL LOST ALOT OF MONEY FROM THIS SCAM, AND MULTIPLE SCAMS ASSOCIATED WITH IT
READ THIS! IT WILL HELP YOU NOT LOSE AS MUCH MONEY AS THOSE SCAM BITCHES STOLE FROM ME!!!!!!!!!!
THIS IS A TOTAL SCAM. I got sucked into this scam for the free vacation. They rip you off, charge you more than they say you will….
For example: They will ask “do you want a free Cancun mexico Vacation for $70.00.” I told them NO i DO NOT! and it still got charged to my account. My mom is a lawyer, and she is now an elected judge and I got her to call the company to cancel within 7 Days, and they still only gave me back 2out fo the 3 charges they put on there without ever telling me i was getting charged for them!!!!!!!!!!
TOTAL RIP OFF! JACK ASSES!
ALSO, BE AWARE OF THIS COMPANY CALLED SHOPINGESS that gets a hold of your account and starts charging you from anywhere from $20-40 a month. They never sent me the “introduction package” and just kept charging me, and wheni called to cancel finally they tried to charge me more…
This company got a hold of my account information from this Natural Cures Info Commercial
THERE IS ALSO ANOTHER COMPANY THAT STEALS FROM YOU TOO. THEY NEVER SEND YOU ANYTHING (which they CLAIM they do) and they jsut keep charing you.. ANOTHER SCAM…
oN my bank statement it showed up as AP9 Shoppingess. I never recieved anything from them…
their website is
SHOPPINGESSENTIALS.COM
SO IF U GET SCAMED BY THIS COMMERCIAL AND THAT BITCH SCAM ARTIST KEVIN, CALL THIS AND MAKE SURE U DON’T HAVE AN ACCOUNT WITH THEM…..
THESE asses even tried to CHARGE me wnen i tried to call and cancel some WORTHLESS MEMBERSHIP I NEVER EVEN HAD.. and never got mailed anythign about…
Comment by ANGELA — February 16, 2008 @ 1:33 am
THESE PEOPLE STEAL MONEY. THEY ARE TOTAL ASSES.
KEVIN IS CALIMING TO BE SUCH A GOOD PERSON
HE IS actually AMERICA’S GREATEST SCAM ARTIST
AND IN my opinion…. a FUCKIN BITCH WHO STEALS FROM PEOPLE…
HIS SHIT IS A TOtal scam and he gives your credit card information to multiple companies to STEAL FROM YOU
YES TO STEAL FROM YOU WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE!!!!!!!!!!
PIEce of shit ass who steals, and companies who steal. let’s get a website started to sue his ass/company for all the inoocent people he has stolen millions of dollars from!!!!!!!!
Comment by mKARE — February 16, 2008 @ 1:35 am
Of course they are scams
Comment by HP Computers — April 15, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
Yeah, it is logical they are all scams :\
Comment by Anime Guru — May 14, 2008 @ 10:42 am