Americans spend an estimated 35 billion on diet products each year. But, buyer beware. Falling for a diet scam can end up doing more than just lighten your wallet, it can damage your health, and your emotional wellbeing.
Kimkins, an internet diet scam of huge proportions, has once again received national news coverage. Heidi Diaz (who goes by the online alias of Kimmer) claimed to weigh 118 pounds, having lost nearly 200 pounds in less than a year and maintaining that loss for approximately 5 years. It was later discovered by Private Investigator Robert Charlton of Alliance Investigative Services that Heidi Diaz had not lost the weight but instead was a morbidly obese woman residing in California. Ex members and concerned citizens banning together discovered that she had littered her website with elaborate fabricated success stories that she had written herself, taking the before and after pictures (including the one representing her own after picture: a beautiful woman in a red dress, upper left corner of picture above) from online Russian Bride sites, furthering the fraud.
Having no medical, nutritional, or science background, Heidi Diaz doled out dangerous diet advice that promoted extremely low calories, laxative use, and anorexic eating behaviors and practices. Members who posted at Kimkins of their concerns with health issues, dared to questioned the validity of the success stories, or discussed these problems on other internet sites were swiftly stripped of their paid lifetime memberships without warning or reimbursement.
It is estimated that Heidi Diaz's scam netted her well over 2 million dollars. There is currently a lawsuit against her by prior members and her assets have been frozen. It is hoped that her site will soon be shut down due to the fraud, dangerous diet, and dieting advice.
View the report: Insider Exclusive with Steve Murphy.
For a transcript of the report: Grilled Cheese Sandwich With Pickles
For additional information:
Kimkins: Anatomy of a Diet Scam
The Kimkins Controversy
Kimkins Class Action Lawsuit
Russian Brides: Fake Kimkins Success Stories
Law Offices of Tiedt and Hurd
Google: Kimkins Scam
If you were or are a current member of kimkins you can join the lawsuit. To join, simply send your name, address, day and evening phone number, approximate join date and amount paid to Kimkins.com to kimkinslawsuit@yahoo.com.
Sources:
http://www.insiderexclusive.com/firm_cohen2.htm http://www.3fatchicks.com/Diets/Diet_Articles/Kimkins:_Anatomy_of_a_Diet_Scam/ http://kimkinsclassactionlawsuit.blogspot.com/ http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/populardietplans/a/kimkinsdiet_2.htm http://honeybeesblog.wordpress.com/russian-brides-fake-kimkins-success-stories/ http://tiedtlaw.com/attyBiog.jsp?x=412405&y=9668149&z=353031
http://www.allianceagent.com/
pictures: http://www.slamboard.com
http://2medusa.blogspot.com/
http://honeybeesblog.wordpress.com/russian-brides-fake-kimkins-success-stories/
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