According to our investigation, it was found that online subscription frauds, many of which use phony celebrity endorsements, are costing people tens of millions of pounds each year.
Every year around 300,00 people are being tricked into such bogus schemes, many of which are supposedly backed by celebrities such as comedian Russel Brand. But, the truth is that these people have not even heard of such products.
Many scammers use social media ads, such as Facebook to attract victims. According to our records, at least 800 frauds were carried out via this social-networking site; as a result, the majority of the pages have been removed. Facebook also notes that employing public figures to deceive others is against its rules.
One such social media scam is the ‘Green CBD Gummies’ scam. Louisa Dyson, 40, from Doncaster, went online to discover an alternative solution after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia due to a childhood accident and being let down by physicians who discounted her extensive pain as a symptom of depression instead of the other way around. Instead, she read what she thought was a MailOnline piece on Facebook with Brand talking about the benefits of CBD gummies, a jellied sweet containing cannabidiol, a component of cannabis that some people claim helps with aches and pains.
She said that “it was a brilliantly written piece.” She also said that while she was reading the article, she could hear him talking, and at the end of the article, people were talking about the gummies that were showing results in a week.”
Panic
However, a £38.99 “buy one, get one free” promotion on two bags of “Green CBD gummies” turned out to be a £148 payment. And she started panicking, thinking, what if it’s not just this £148 and how will she know that her money will not be lost from her account.
Large amounts
Louisa could not recover her funds, but her bank could prevent further withdrawals from her account. But, not everyone was as lucky as Louisa. This fraud has spoken to 20 such scam victims, according to our records. One of them has had money withdrawn from her bank account without her knowledge for several months. Another person could not leave their home for several weeks due to stress.
“There are almost 300,000 victims in the UK each year, who lose £250 on an average that’s around £75 million in annual losses to UK victims,” said crime investigator Gillian Schonrock, who already has spent the past five years investigating internet subscription scams.
It isn’t about a single scammer who came up with such a scheme; instead, it’s about those tens of thousands of fraudsters and the vast sums of money.
Duped
The CBD gummies Louisa purchased online were also offered on Facebook with many other celebrity endorsements, including Dame Esther Rantzen, a journalist and television presenter.
“I despise them for using my name and, by extension, my reputation for peddling their items, which I do not know of,” Dame Esther stated. Louisa has become more cautious about what she purchases online, but she recognizes that these frauds will persist to prey on the weak.