• According to news reports, some acai companies are using deceptive practices.news to read. image by bluefern from Fotolia.com
  
  According to news reports, some companies selling capsules and juices supposedly containing acai berries are using deceptive practices and making unproven health claims about the fruit. This practice has resulted in numerous complaints by customers to the Federal Trade Commission and by famous people such as Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Mehmet Oz. Acai berries are dark purple fruits that come from the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. They became well known when anti-aging expert Dr. Nicholas Perricone touted it as the number one superfood in 2005 because of its high antioxidant properties. Antioxidants are said to fight free radicals which can cause illness and aging.
  
  

Unauthorized Charges

• Credit cards are charged without customer authorization.credit card image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com
  
  Wellness companies are promoting free trials of pure acai berry products on the Internet. You are asked to pay only for shipping using your debit or credit card. Once a company has your credit or debit card information there is a possibility the company will further charge you without you knowing. According to a WGNtv.com report, the FTC claims customers from one particular acai company are being charged over-the-top shipping charges and recurring monthly charges that were not approved by the consumer who wanted to try the product.
  
  

Unable to Cancel

• Companies make it impossible to cancel.speaking image by Mitarart from Fotolia.com
  
  Sometimes you are not able to cancel orders from the companies claiming to distribute the free products. Customers repeatedly report calling the companies that give them a cancellation number, but their card is never canceled and they do not get a refund. Do not use a debit card when making purchases; use a credit card and you can call your credit card company directly and report the company for fraud. When you dispute the charge, you can charge it back to the company.
  
  

Fake Endorsements

• Companies are falsely portraying famous people as endorsing their products. In 2009, Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Mehmet Oz filed a lawsuit against 40 acai companies using their names to promote products without their permission. The FTC filed a lawsuit in August 2010 against a company selling the acai berry for weight loss using Winfrey as one of the endorsers on the website. Winfrey's company, Harpo Inc., said in a statement that "Ms. Oprah Winfrey has never endorsed any acai berry supplement or acai berry related product by name."
  
  

Untruthful About Ingredients

• Some capsules supposedly containing acai have little or none of the berries in theml.capsules in close up image by Alexey Klementiev from Fotolia.com
  
  Some companies say the pills and juices they sell have pure acai berries, when in fact the drinks are watered down with cheaper juices and preservatives while the pills may contain little or no acai. According to New York Injury News, the FTC, which filed a lawsuit in August 2010 against a company selling acai, listed a series of complaints, including the fact that some pills were actually laxatives. The FTC also said the products did not work for weight loss or cancer prevention as the company seemed to claim.