Quoting from:
http://www.ncahf.org/digest07/07-42.html

Weight-loss fraud tops FTC survey list. The Federal Trade
Commission has released its second survey of frauds among
American adults. The data were gathered from 3,888 interviews
with a representative sample of adults. The survey found that
30.2 million adults—13.5% of the adult population—were
defrauded during a 1-year period that began in late 2004.
More people were victims of fraudulent weight-loss products
than of any of the other frauds covered by the survey.
The products included nonprescription drugs, dietary
supplements, skin patches, creams, wraps, or earrings,
where the seller promised that by using the product losing
a substantial amount of weight would be easy or could be
achieved without diet and/or exercise and where consumers
who purchased the product lost little or none of the weight
they had expected to lose. An estimated 2.1% of consumers—
4.8 million U.S. adults—purchased and used such fraudulent
weight-loss products during the one year period preceding
the survey. An additional 700,000 adults purchased an
alleged weight-loss product and didn't use it.
The estimated total number of purchases was 8.3 million.
Among purchasers, 6% said that they had lost as much or
more weight than expected, 10% said that they lost about
half of what they expected, 28% said that they only lost
a little weight, 34% said that they did not lose any weight
or gained weight, and 20% said that they had not used the
product. [Consumer Fraud in the United States: The Second
FTC Survey. FTC Staff, Oct 2007] One reason these scams
are so prevalent is that the Postal Service no longer pays
attention to them. They will continue to be prevalent as
long as they remain profitable for media outlets that carry
their ads and credit card companies that facilitate the
purchases.

Quoting from:
http://www.ncahf.org/digest07/07-42.html

Weight-loss fraud tops FTC survey list. The Federal Trade
Commission has released its second survey of frauds among
American adults. The data were gathered from 3,888 interviews
with a representative sample of adults. The survey found that
30.2 million adults—13.5% of the adult population—were
defrauded during a 1-year period that began in late 2004.
More people were victims of fraudulent weight-loss products
than of any of the other frauds covered by the survey.
The products included nonprescription drugs, dietary
supplements, skin patches, creams, wraps, or earrings,
where the seller promised that by using the product losing
a substantial amount of weight would be easy or could be
achieved without diet and/or exercise and where consumers
who purchased the product lost little or none of the weight
they had expected to lose. An estimated 2.1% of consumers—
4.8 million U.S. adults—purchased and used such fraudulent
weight-loss products during the one year period preceding
the survey. An additional 700,000 adults purchased an
alleged weight-loss product and didn't use it.
The estimated total number of purchases was 8.3 million.
Among purchasers, 6% said that they had lost as much or
more weight than expected, 10% said that they lost about
half of what they expected, 28% said that they only lost
a little weight, 34% said that they did not lose any weight
or gained weight, and 20% said that they had not used the
product. [Consumer Fraud in the United States: The Second
FTC Survey. FTC Staff, Oct 2007] One reason these scams
are so prevalent is that the Postal Service no longer pays
attention to them. They will continue to be prevalent as
long as they remain profitable for media outlets that carry
their ads and credit card companies that facilitate the
purchases.