Related video above: Even with access to blockbuster obesity drugs, some don\u2019t lose weight<\/p>\n
(NEXSTAR) \u2013 Thousands of people who used a weight-loss supplement will be receiving a portion of more than $400,000, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).<\/p>\n
The FTC claims Roca Labs, the marketer behind the Roca Labs Formula or \u201cGastric Bypass Alternative,\u201d not only duped customers when it came to the efficacy of the supplements, but also threatened to sue those who notified the Better Business Bureau or complained online.<\/p>\n
\t The July payments are the result of a 2018 court decision in Tampa, Florida ruling<\/a> against Roca Labs that found the weight loss company \u201cfalsely claimed that use of their products is scientifically proven to have a ninety-percent success rate in forcing users to eat half their usual food intake and cause substantial weight loss.\u201d<\/p>\n Court documents say Roca also \u201cdeceptively failed to disclose their financial relationship to testimonialists who worked for them.\u201d<\/p>\n What to know about payments<\/p>\n The FTC is sending at least 7,481 payments totaling more than $409,000 to Roca Labs customers, along with nearly three dozen claim forms to people who bought Roca products before Oct. 2015.<\/p>\n To be eligible for a refund, you must return one of the mailed FTC forms by October 7, 2025. While the mailing date for the payments has not yet been decided, the FTC says it will post it to its website<\/a> once finalized.<\/p>\n \t The amount of each payment \u201cdepends on several factors,\u201d according to the FTC, including the ultimate number of claimants. If the refund money was divided evenly across 7,481 checks, the amount would be roughly $55.<\/p>\n The FTC encourages anyone who receives a check to cash it within 90 days. PayPal recipients should accept it within 30 days.<\/p>\n Avoiding weight loss scam ads<\/p>\n Marketers hawking weight loss products often claim their wraps, creams, supplements, pills, powders, patches and even earrings have the potential to strip away fat quickly.<\/p>\n They may even seek to gain trust by advertising on TV, social media or elsewhere, sometimes claiming to have been featured on the hit-show \u201cShark Tank,\u201d according to the Better Business Bureau<\/a> (BBB).<\/p>\n One customer complained to the BBB of losing over $700 buying supposed weight loss gummies that appeared to be endorsed by celebrity Kelly Clarkson. <\/p>\n \t \u201cI trusted her; however, they used her\u00a0AI likeness<\/a>\u00a0to scam people,\u201d the customer recalled. \u201cI contacted the company to cancel my account and any transactions. They keep charging my account.\u201d<\/p>\n The BBB has the following advice for avoiding a weight loss scam:<\/p>\n See the BBB<\/a> and FTC<\/a> websites for more information on avoiding misleading \u2013 and potentially harmful \u2013 weigh loss products.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tSuggest a Correction<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClose Modal<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tSuggest a Correction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Related video above: Even with access to blockbuster obesity drugs, some don\u2019t lose weight (NEXSTAR) \u2013 Thousands of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":61822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[16626,210,44400,1182,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-61821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-ftc","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-nmw","11":"tag-nutrition","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114845079571938540","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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