Scam Tactics: Knowing the Differences among FDA Registered, FDA Certified, and FDA Approved

Recently, someone posted the following comment on BehindMLM

"Davie Watkins" claimed on 6-OCT-2017 that "FDA approved
Vida Divina's Coffee Line in October 2017"

Let's first examine, what did "Vida Divina" reps say about FDA? If you Google, you may find:

The search results says "FDA certified", or "FDA Approved". But what is the truth?

None of the actual results link to FDA, it's just announcements, and they can't even agree on the language. Some say "certified", some say "approved". What is the truth? As it turns out, it was NEITHER.

Scam Tactics: Indignantly imply everybody else is wrong i.e. Nerium Proponent's Comment Dissected

skepticism, skeptical inquiry, critical thinking,
critical inquiry, and truth-seeking. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you see a random claim, do you simply accept it as is, or do you adopt the Reagan doctrine: "Trust, but verify"?  A skeptic uses the latter.

Indeed, scam tactics often simply deny everything, randomly make some claims, and claimed to be outraged at the lack of facts presented.

Recently I came across this comment by a Nerium proponent. I am going to number the claims (i.e. sentences that appear to be factual, not merely an opinion), and let's verify each one.

Get your facts correct please. Nerium sold at Sears was counterfeit. (1) You will no longer find it there. (2)
The extract itself, NAE-8 is patented. (3) Look it up. Do a tiny bit of research on Jeff Olson (4) (you’ll kick yourself for your ignorance).
The before & afters are from its distributors. (5) One bad apple doesn’t spoil the bunch & that apple was taken care of (6) – & others warned.
Most importantly, results from the night treatment are published in the peer-reviewed literature. (7) Try looking up the Journal of Aging, Science, Jr of Clinical & Investigative Dermatology, etc…… (8)
The patented extract is the first superantioxidant on the planet. Look it up. (9)
Please don’t confuse searching with research! Try it, you might just learn something new!

Claim 1: Was Nerium sold at Sears counterfeit?

As we have not seen this listed ANYWHERE (search for Nerium + Sears just brings up similar night creams) we'll have to say "unverifiable", as we have nothing to show either true, or false.

UNSUPPORTED CLAIM, BUSTED

Claim 2: Is Nerium sold at Sears?

Nope, nothing there.

TRUE (but inconsequential, how often have you seen MLM products in retail? Never!)

Claim 3: Is NAE-8 patented?

Nope, NAE-8 is a registered trademark, not a patent. Nerium appears to hold at least two patents on how to extract oleander and aloe, but NAE-8 is not "patented", just trademarked as "non-medicated skin care preparation ingredient" under cosmetics.

BUSTED!

Claim 4: Is there anything surprising on Jeff Olson?

Searching for Jeff Olson shows that he used to ran People's Network, a Self-Improvement TV Channel, that got bought by Prepaid Legal in 1997ish, and he became Prepaid Legal's CEO in 1999. In 2001 PL was hit by Wyoming Attorney General with charges of illegal income claims, then SEC also hit Prepaid Legal for misclaiming expenses as assets (i.e. inflating its financial situation). PL was sued hundreds of times in Missouri, won a few, lost more, decided to settle the remaining 400+ cases. Then things were quite until 2009, when both FTC and SEC subpoenaed some documents for fact-finding missions. In 2011 PL was bought out and reorganized, and Olson left (or was forced out) and started Nerium.

Nothing too surprising, or worthy of emulation, IMHO. Got lucky and got acquired, had to wield whip on sales force to keep them in line, and got forced out during corporate shuffle.

HALF-TRUE

News Update 19-DEC-2014: Zhunrize Plea Deal; PlanB4You Busted; Zeek Money May Be Stolen; FDA Admonishes Herbalife

Lots of little news this week... Remember folks, don't accept random news items without attribution. I link to my sources, and you should click through to make sure I didn't lie to you (unlike others)


PlanB4You Ponzi Busted in Europe

PlanB4You was reportedly busted by local police (Google Translate of refdag.nl article)  when a seizure order was issued and bank account containing 2.5 million (?) have been frozen and multiple locations raided. Several luxury cars were apparently seized. And challenges to court have been denied.

PlanB4You (review by BehindMLM) is a virtually exact copy of Ad Surf Daily ponzi busted in the US in 2008, with 25% ROI in 25 days.


Zhunrize reaches Plea Deal with SEC, may go into receivership

Previously we reported that Zhunrize has been closed by SEC as a ponzi scheme, and at least one shill or troll claimed it was not true, and they had reopened. Seems every Ponzi scheme claimed this at one time or another, as there are reports this also happened with PlanB4You reported above.

Any way, to nail that rumor shut... (reported by BehindMLM) Zhunrize and owner Pan have reached separate deals with SEC to pay fines and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains. The judge has yet to sign the deal but is expected to.

There may be criminal cases pending later. Receivership will be appointed if the deal is accepted and that's the end of that.

Who Really Decides What Is Safe In your Food (and Nutritional Supplements)?

English: Logo of the . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Obvious fact:  nutritional supplements are considered "food" by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Not so obvious fact: what ends up in the nutritional supplements are often UNregulated
by the FDA, because companies can simply declare some ingredient to be "generally regarded as safe" (GRAS) based on some internal studies, and include them without telling the FDA.

Some ingredients are submitted to FDA with full studies and gains full FDA approval, but most ingredients are not approved by the FDA, and are merely declared to be GRAS by internal studies. A third way, where the GRAS study was submitted to FDA for approval, are often withdrawn, and the ingredient used any way.

GRAS was meant to be used for common ingredients like vegetable oil, vinegar, and so on. But the law, enjoying its 56th birthday recently, is now an anachronism and a loophole for companies to punch through ingredients without formal review by the FDA.

National Resource Defense Council has published a paper where it tracked 56 companies involved in 250+ chemicals declared as GRAS, as reported by Consumerist. Some of which are... troubling. And you need to be aware if you are drinking or taking any weight-loss or energy formulas.

BREAKING NEWS: Dietary Supplement caused nearly 100 hepatitis cases

An outbreak of nearly 100 cases of hepatitis in Hawaii was pinpointed to be caused by one dietary supplement.  

But that's not the scary part. This is: 

Because the FDA regulates supplements only after they come to market, companies are not required to prove that their products are safe and effective before marketing them.

"This really points to the fact that there's no safety testing … before a new ingredient shows up in a supplement in the United States," Cohen said. "Guess who's the experimental animal — the consumer."

livescience.com

So if you are taking one such dietary supplement, one that's brand new and never tested...

You may want to reevaluate that risk.

Esp. when it is based on junk science or even worse bogosities.

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