DENVER - Weight loss is a $65 billion industry in the United States. Some estimates put the number of American adults who are on some kind of diet at between 80 and 100 million. Those statistics are a reason consumers are vulnerable to frauds like the one federal investigators say had been run out of Denver for years.
After a two-year investigation spanning 15 states, they have arrested the man they say was at the center of it. Investigators say John Edward Mullikin promised to help people lose weight, but stole their money instead.
Nicole Pech saw an ad in a Denver newspaper for a weight loss study and thought she'd give it a try. She went online to learn more.
"The website looked legitimate to me," she said.
It was called the Metacor Labs Weight Loss Study by Progenics. The offer was to be part of a medical trial to test weight loss pills. The researchers promised to pay participants more than $300 a month for their time. The only requirement for someone to sign up was a $144 deposit.
Pech's check was cashed, but she never received any payment, even after calling and emailing every contact the website listed.
"I figured I had been scammed when I didn't hear anything back," she said.
She did get one package of pills in the mail, one month's worth, but no one really knows what kind of pills.
The Denver/Boulder Better Business Bureau fielded dozens of complaints about the fraud. Spokesperson Megan Miller says they were concerned about the theft and the fake pills being distributed.
"Who knows what they were who knows if they could have been harmful," she said. "It is very, very scary that that was going on. He wasn't just taking people's money, he could have been putting their health in harm."
Mullikin was in federal court this week. The indictment accuses him of knowingly operating a scheme to defraud people. It lists six fake businesses and says there could have been more.
Federal investigators say Denver was home base for his fraud, but it stretched all over the country. The feds talked to victims in at least 14 other states. They all had stories much like Pech's.
"I felt used and I thought how many other people did this happen to?" she said.
Miller says there are a few key things to remember to protect yourself from this type of fraud.
"You go to the website and it looks legit. Your homework does not stop there, it's just starting," Miller said.
She says you need to look into who is conducting a medical trial. If they are legitimate they will be approved by the Institutional Review Board.
"Make sure it is safe and do not ever pay any money up front," she said.
If Mullikin is convicted he faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
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