Diet pill scam: Fraudsters use fake Dragons’ Den endorsements in dodgy emails

Scammers are again using fake celebrity endorsements to peddle diet pills.

This email scam involves fraudsters falsely claiming Figur or Liba diet pills have been featured on the BBC show Dragons’ Den, with the Dragons ‘unanimously investing over a million pounds’. 

It’s the latest in a series of diet pill scams. We’ve previously reported on scammers advertising pills via social media and online ads using similar fake endorsements.

Read on to discover how the scam works.

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Figur diet pill email scam

This scam email uses Dragons’ Den branding to trick you into believing that the product is legitimate. It begins by stating: ‘Miracle weight loss pill that naturally burns fat nets biggest deal in Dragons’ Den History’ and includes a photo of Deborah Meaden.

The message features another outlandish claim – that women lose an average of one and a half stone in a month by using Figur pills.

At the bottom of the email, you’re prompted to click on a button stating ‘Go to Figur special offer now’. Claiming ‘offers’ are time-limited is a common tactic used by scammers to get victims to act quickly. 

The BBC confirmed to Which? that this email is in no way linked to Dragons’ Den or Deborah Meaden. 

How the scam works

If you click on the link, you’ll be taken to a webpage where you'll be asked to fill out your age, gender, current weight and goal weight. The page includes a countdown clock and fake reviews about the pills.

Once you add your details, you’ll be taken to a purchase page where you'll be asked for your payment details. Enter them and you’ll be giving your money to the scammer, with no guarantee an item will ever arrive. 

Suspicious websites such as this may also attempt to steal your bank details or download malware on to your device.

This email peddles Figur diet pills, but we've also seen similar messages advertising similar Liba pills. We attempted to contact both Figur and Liba, but received no response.

Reporting email scams

If you receive an email advertising a product you’ve neve heard of, don’t click on any links. In this instance, a quick web search of the product name would show you that it never appeared on Dragons’ Den, let alone gained a huge investment. Additionally, be suspicious of emails containing outlandish claims or trying to rush you into taking advantage of a ‘special’ offer. 

Forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk to report them. You can report them to your email provider by selecting ‘Report Spam’ on Gmail, ‘Report phishing’ on Hotmail or by forwarding emails to abuse@yahoo.com from a Yahoo account.