'Free Trial' Plus False Claims Equals More FTC Enforcement In Supplement Market

FTC on consecutive days announced court order closing a California business allegedly charging consumers for products and enrolling them in negative-option continuity plans without their consent after they responded to bogus free trial online offers, and started mailing 16,596 checks totaling more than $750,000 to consumers who bought deceptively marketed supplements from a Maine firm that also lured customers with a free trial pitch.

The combination of dietary supplements marketed with dubious health claims and false "free trial" offers emerges again as a gift that keeps on giving for Federal Trade Commission enforcement.

The agency on consecutive days announced a court order closing a California business allegedly charging consumers for products and enrolling...

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