Bogus Weight-Loss Products 3x slimming power

More than 1-in-10 American adults fall victim to some sort of fraud, 3x slimming power according to a new report from the Federal Trade Commission. And scams related to fraudulent weight-loss products are by far the most prevalent.

The FTC has just released a detailed survey [PDF] of consumer fraud in the U.S. for 2011. The agency found that in that year alone, 25.6 million adults (10.8% of the adult population) were victims of fraud. In total, the FTC knows of 37.8 million fraud incidents in 2011, meaning some folks were duped at least twice.

Not surprisingly, the most popular medium for luring in consumers was the hokkaido pills Internet, where 1-in-3 victims got hooked into a scam. That’s up from 1-in-5 victims back in the FTC’s most recent survey in 2005. The Internet was also where an even larger percentage — 40% — of all fraudulent purchases made.