TAMPA (Legal Newsline) — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced it has taken action against Colby Fox, Christopher Reinhold and their companies, Tacht Inc. and Teqqi LLC, for allegations of bombarding consumers with illegal spam email in an attempt to sell weight-loss products with false celebrity endorsements.
“These defendants used a variety of deceptive tactics to sell their bogus diet pills,” said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “But we have a clear message for them – we want their illegal practices to stop and we want to give people back the money they took.”
The defendants purportedly sent emails to consumers from hacked email accounts to make it seem like the information in the email came from a friend or family member. These messages allegedly asked consumers to clink on links that led to the defendants’ websites, which marketed unproven weight loss products such as Original Pure Forskolin and Original White Kidney Bean.
The FTC charges the defendants with violations of Sections 5 and 12 of the FTC Act, as well as the CAN-SPAM Act.
The FTC voted 3-0 to authorize the staff to file the complaint.