Celebritiesย arenโt the only victims of a long-running Internet scam that usesย fakeย celebrity endorsementsย to peddle skin care products online. Ordinary individuals who fall for the advertorialsย (advertisements written to look like articles) in some cases wind up bilked out of hundreds of dollars.
The perpetratorsย use networksย of bogus web sites, social media, and e-commerce technology to trick users into orderingย โfree trialsโ of supposedly celebrity-endorsed products, only to find theyโve unknowingly signed upย to receive regular shipments for which theyโre automatically charged on a monthly basis.
The Internet is rife with consumer complaints about these scams. โI saw an ad on Facebook about some eye serum and eye cream,โ one user wrote on a web site devoted to reporting fraud:
All you pay is shipping & handling. Nowhere did they say you started an automatic shipment every month. When I received the shipment, there were no papers inside box describing it or telling me anything about the auto ship. There was no return address either. Two weeks after, I was billed $97.43 for eye serum and $98.66 for eye cream. When I called, they said I only paid for shipment and since I didnโt call or return products I was charged for a whole product then. What a rip-off!!! I havenโt even used the crap!
Theย versionย using the name and likeness of Priscilla Chanย appeared online in April 2017. Chan, says the article, has formulated her own โnatural, holisticโ skin care line about whichย โIvy League scientistsโ and โHollywood dermatologistsโ are raving.
The use of Mark Zuckerbergโs name and likeness wasnโt authorized either, despite appearingย in this and a previous iteration of the advertorial which claimed that Zuckerberg was quitting Facebook to become a cosmeceuticalย mogul.
The web site on whichย the Priscilla Chan advertorialย was postedย (www.piop.net)ย contains literally dozens more examples following the same formula, each featuring a different celebrity.ย Kellyanne Conway, Joanna Gaines, Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Scarlett Johansson, Ann Coulter, Joy Behar, Ellen Degeneres, Meryl Streep, andย Kate Middleton are just a few of the names used.