The class action lawsuit against Heidi Diaz (center, top right, bottom right in picture above), owner and founder of the Kimkins diet site, is scheduled to go to trial at the Riverside County Courthouse in California on October 25, 2010.
Recap:
Heidi Diaz, also known as Kimmer, claimed to have lost nearly 200 pounds in less than a year and to have maintained her weight at 118 pounds for approximately 5 years. Starting an online dieting site based on these claims she sold memberships to access the plan(s) she created. The site included many success stories accompanied by before and after pictures of amazing transformations, including her own which showed a picture of a young, beautiful woman in a clingy red dress (top left of picture). The success stories seemed too good to be true and, as it would turn out, they were.
A private investigator, Robert Charlton of Alliance Investigative Services, was hired and discovered that Heidi Diaz was not what she claimed to be. Ex members and concerned citizens, banning together to uncover the fraud, discovered that she had littered her website with elaborate fabricated success stories that she had written herself, taking the before and after pictures from online Russian Bride sites, including the picture(s) she claimed to be her after her weight loss (see woman in red dress, upper left hand corner of picture above).
Heidi Diaz, having no medical, science, or nutritional background, doled out dangerous diet advice that promoted extremely low calories, laxative use, and anorexic eating behaviors and practices. Members who dared to question "Kimmer," state their concerns on her website, or question the validity of her success stories, found themselves locked out of the site, without warning or reimbursement of their "lifetime membership" fees.
Kimkins received an F rating by the Better Business Bureau: We strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as that they have failed to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the company’s industry is known for its fraudulfent business practices.
*It is estimated that Heidi Diaz's scam netted her well over 2 million dollars.
It would be nearly impossible to site all that has happened since the fraud was first discovered. Below are some links that cover some of what has transpired in the last 3 years.
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4 comments:
Wow that is just sad. I hope one day thinspiration and unhealthy websites that are illegal.
Everyone needs to be very cautious when it comes to things such as this. They wrap it up in pretty packages and makes statements that play into our insecurities and desire for things like weight loss, health, belonging, etc.. We all need to research and then research some more before committing to something that has the potential to harm our health. Health needs to be the focus and the goal because without it what remains?
Thanks for commenting, Danielle.
Oh, I am sure she is not the only one on the internet. I know that some fake medicines and supplements are sold on the internet, being fakes.
So, probably, the best is a good healthy lifestyle.
I agree with you, Gina. A healthy lifestyle is best. We all need to be very cautious when we come across so called miracle cures and outrageous claims and research them thoroughly.
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