Online Fraud Scammed Consumers Out of Nearly Half a Billion Dollars

The perpetrators of an online scam that fleeced consumers in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand out of nearly half a billion dollars with bogus free trial offers of acai berry weight-loss pills and other products are being sued by the Federal Trade Commission, which wants to shut down the operation and force the scammers to refund their victims.

Jesse Willms and 10 of his companies, the FTC charged, defrauded consumers out of more than $450 million by enticing them with "free" or "risk free" offers that required them to divulge credit card numbers -- which Willms then used to charge them for unwanted products and services.