The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) got a restraining order temporarily on the sales of Central Coast Nutraceuticals Inc. products acai berry and colon cleansers.

Central Coast Company’s consumers were deceived by the company the year before to the tune of $30 million in an online sales campaign, claimed FTC. The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection Director David Vladeck said that around one million consumers were made victims in this fraud. There was no response from the Central Coast office.

The FTC said that the Chicago based internet company’s assets were blocked and a receiver has been engaged temporarily for the four subsidiaries of Central Coast as per the interim order.

The central Coast and two other people engaged with the company were blamed by FTC for irregularities in billing methods and misleading advertisements while asking for restraining order. FTC claimed that Central Coast made false claims that its product colon cleansers would help in avoiding colon cancer and the usage of its pills based on acai berry would result in considerable weight reduction. Also few of the ads had fake claims made by famous people like Rachael Ray and Oprah Winfrey. The consumers were lured with these benefits were made to share their credit or debit card details on the internet while they applied for a free trial of these packs.

Every month the consumers would be charged with $45 to $65 for receiving the parcel of these products which they have not ordered irrespective of their efforts to cancel it.  This scam had cheated the consumers to the extent of $100 million.  

David said that FTC’s experts claim that these tablets are mere laxatives and it would have ill effects if consumed over a long period.

A request for a permanent injunction is slated to be heard Friday in federal court in Chicago.

A permanent restriction has been sought for which would come for hearing on Friday in Chicago’s federal court.