Scam Alert: Warning About Pat Harper and The Secret Cure for Hypothyroidism, and Other Secret Cure Health Reports
One of the most popular articles here at the site in the last year has been my expose' of the "Secret Cure for Hypothyroidism" scam, and the fake "expert" Pat Harper. The truth? There is no such person as medical expert and author Pat Harper. She's a photo from clipart.com. And there aren't any secret cures for hypothyroidism. There is only an opportunity for an unscrupulous company to take advantage of your desire to help your own health condition, and separate you from your money. The fictional Pat Harper is a fake, a creation of Increase Media, a company that also goes by the name Selmedica, and is owned/founded by a guy named Perry Belcher. And, sadly, the Secret Cure for Hypothyroidism is just one part of a massive effort to take advantage of you.
Belcher has figured out that if he slapped together a few pages on hypothyroidism, put up a website offering a "report" on the "Secret Cure for Hypothyroidism", and claimed it was created by Pat Harper, "America's #1 Expert in Hypothyroidism", you might buy his expensive "report." In addition to hoping that you don't notice that you've paid $17 for a useless pamphlet from an "expert" who is actually a made up person and a clip art photo, Belcher is also hoping that you will fail to notice the fine print that says he'll also keep charging you every single month AFTER you buy his report, so that he can continue to take your money into perpetuity. And just try to contact the company to take advantage of the so-called "Money back guarantee." Many unsuspecting consumers have been unable to even get in touch with the company, much less get a refund or stop the monthly billing.
Since I posted my original story, many internet users have been searching for "Secret Cure" and "Pat Harper," finding my reports before they get bilked out of their money. One person recently wrote to me, saying: "Thanks for the warning about Pat Harper. I was at the point of paying for this ‘report’. However I ‘googled’ the name and the word ‘review’ and came to your site. I am generally cautious about such claims but was nearly sucked in. Thanks again."
It's not enough that people with hypothyroidism are being targeted, however. Belcher now has a long list of cookie cutter "Secret Cure" websites, and each sells brief, unsubstantiated pamphlets ("reports") for a whopping $17 -- PLUS it's nearly impossible to avoid signing up for the monthly membership fees. And of course, each one features the testimonial and clipart photo of fake expert Pat Harper, who in addition to being "America's #1 Hypothyroidism Expert," is also " America's #1 Anxiety Expert," "America's #1 High Cholesterol Expert," and "America's #1 Shingles Expert," and...well, you get my drift.
I've included a list of some of the many "Secret Cure" sites at the end of this post, to help others avoid getting ripped off.
And "Secret Cure for" reports are not the only way that Belcher / Increase Media / Selmedica want to take your money. Selmedica aggresively markets -- via affiliates ---- a series of extremely expensive herbal supplements that are promoted to look like pharmaceutical drugs. For example Alvidar, their overpriced $67 herbal supplement that is supposed to help the thyroid -- but actually has ingredients that could make your thyroid condition worse! Selmedica sells a whole line of overpriced herbal supplements that claim to cure everything from lice, to varicose veins, to hair loss, to high cholesterol. None of it is substantiated, of course, and most of these supplements are standard variety herbal formulas that you can find at your local health food store or at online herbal stores for as little as $5 to $10 for a month's supply, versus Selmedica's exorbitant $67 a month.
Some of these Selmedica products include: Zymelite, Dr. Chong's Oolong Tea, ColonDTX, Cabbage Soup Diet Pill, Diavad, Vacitia, Zetinol, Candisil, Botisol, Valbien, Defamox, Episyl, Thymusil, Dexoprin, Flexoprin, Peritol, Celestrin, DiatrinH, Alvidar, Amberoz, Digestrin, Enzara, Erostat, FungRX, LiceX, Ovulex, Sumactin, Veinocal, Welatonin, Zynoxin, Avprin, Leucatin, Puricil, Zetacap, Myocil, Hyprava, Lacitrex, Viranol, Epitrex, Paravex, Aceium, Amloxin, Lexoprin, Palorin, Equitab, Rybolin, Thermoderm, SonaRX, Kryoderm, Lantrasil, Nexoprin, Altoxin, Livadone.
All I can say is, if it's from Increase Media, Perry Belcher, or Selmedica, or if it's a "Secret Cure" from expert "Pat Harper" -- BUYER BEWARE!
List of Increase Media / Perry Belcher / Selmedica's "Secret Cure" Reports From Fake Expert "Pat Harper"
Secret Cure For Acne
Secret Cure For Anxiety
Secret Cure For Athlete's Foot
Secret Cure For Back Pain
Secret Cure For Boils
Secret Cure For Bursitis
Secret Cure For Candida
Secret Cure For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Secret Cure For Cold Sores
Secret Cure For Colon Ailments
Secret Cure For Crohn's Disease
Secret Cure For Eczema
Secret Cure For Excessive Sweating
Secret Cure For Fibromyalgia
Secret Cure For Genital Warts
Secret Cure For Gout
Secret Cure For HPV
Secret Cure For Hair Loss
Secret Cure For Head Lice
Secret Cure For Hemorrhoids
Secret Cure For Hepatitis
Secret Cure For High Cholesterol
Secret Cure For Hypothyroidism
Secret Cure For IBS
Secret Cure For Infertility
Secret Cure For Kidney Stones
Secret Cure For Lupus
Secret Cure For Nail Fungus
Secret Cure For Panic Attacks
Secret Cure For Psoriasis
Secret Cure For Restless Leg Syndrome
Secret Cure For Shingles
Secret Cure For Sinusitis
Secret Cure For Snoring
Secret Cure For Tinnitus
Book cover: Mary Shomon / Photo: clipart.com
Unfortunately, I was duped a couple weeks ago. However, I did get a response to my email request for a refund. Now I just have to check my credit card to make sure they don’t keep charging me and that my refund does actually appear.
From: James Increase [mailto:info@increasemedia.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 4:28 PM
To: Kim Kauffman
Subject: RE: Order #125846944
Hello Kim,
I have just received your email. I am very sorry for the delay. I have issued a refund for the e-book of $17. Please allow 3-5 business days for this credit to show on your account. If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know.
Thank you and have a great day!
Thea
Customer Service
And also received an additional email from the so called “Pat”:
—–Original Message—–
From: Pat [mailto:pat@increasemedia.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 4:28 PM
To: Kim
Subject: Your Request for Refund
Hi Kim,
I have received your refund request for my report. As stated on my site, I offer a 100% Money Back Guarantee. Your request is being processed now and usually takes 3 to 4 business days to appear on your statement. I am sorry that you feel that my information was not helpful to you and your current situation.
Based on the huge positive response that I have received, I personally believe that the information I provide is extremely valuable. For this reason I am going to keep your user name and password active so that you can access all of my collection of information free of charge for as long as you like. Please remember to visit the member’s area often as I am always adding new and exciting reports. I hope this information proves as helpful to you as it has so many others.
I took the time to research your user name and password and have listed them below in case you do not have them. Remember you can access my member’s area any time by clicking the link below:
http://www.howtocureeverything.com
Please be assured that you will not be charged again. I am offering this to you as both an apology for the misunderstanding and hopefully as a benefit as well.
My Sincerest Apologies,
Pat
Increase Media
7740 A Trinity Road Suite 112
Cordova, TN
38018
US
If you no longer wish to receive communication from us:
http://autocontactor.com/app/r.asp?ID=124189383&ARID=268086&D=0
To update your contact information:
http://autocontactor.com/app/r.asp?c=1&ID=124189383&D=0
RE: Mary Shomon article on pat harper-she’s a hoax- umm, about.com you have a link to ad’s for this woman/company. what’s up with that????
I agree with’Kris’. Why was this link on your web site about the ‘Secret Cure for Thyroidism’ by Pat Harper. Now, they have sent a ‘bill’ showing $17 was charged on my credit card this month also. I sent a return e-mail and said I did not want to receive ‘it’and did not agree with it. I hope disputing the charges with the credit card company will take care of the matter?
I saw the Secret cure ad before your article and I printed it to see what they say. It was 15 pages long! (What a waste of paper and ink.) Yes Mary I agree with the other posters, why is their ad on your website? You’re talking out both sides of your mouth.
You should remove it immediately.
Where is the ad? I do not see it. All I see is a pic in Mary’s article. Is that what you all are talking about?
Although this publisher is clearly unscrupulous, I blame Oprah for the mass of people looking for “natural” cures. She claimed the trip to Hawaii and some herbs fixed her thyroid and people are going to think it’s the truth. I understand she is not intentionally misleading people, but her ignorance on this issue is fueling the ignorant buying habits of many folks on the internet looking for “natural” cures.
click on the link to her expose’ of the secret cure for hypothyroidism, you will see her comments about ads that are on this website….just as a columnist can’t control the paying ads in the newspaper neither can she control the ads that pop up on the website and just because they are there doesn’t mean that she endorses the products in the ads
Thank you so much, Mary for exposing this charlatan. Snake oil anyone? Sometimes it feels as if the internet hhas created another set of people selling snake oil ruses.
Oh please, not able to control the content of the advertising on the site? I think that is just a cop-out, if this site is a reputable health information web site it needs to check every advertiser and assure the readers that the products are not fraudulent and protect the people that read and trust the health information they are getting. I am RN and the other day was looking for ways to lower my cholesterol and was popped over to a “Pat Harper expert” site, what a waste of time,it appeared to just want money, this was attached to the e-mail newsletter that I received from Mary Shomon, if the About.com cannot do better that this maybe we should all cancel our subscriptions. Protect us from these scams that just offer false hope and take our hard earned money.
Re the Secret Cure for Hypothyroidism and Pat Harper…
This is practising medicine without a license – a CRIMINAL offense. And besides, if this is truly a made up person, that is FRAUD. Why are you not reporting this to the police/FBI to get him closed down, as he could easily be ripping off vulnerable old people! ALAN HUNTER
I’ve looked up the e-mail address for this Perry Belcher/Pat Harper/Selmedica…
And left a message to this guy (??)…
If he (She?) wasn’t this person inquestion,…to respons, since some other rotten person was then ruining his (hers?) good name!
Also contacted MySpace.com to report abuse/fraude coming from this person with a blog on their web-site…
Waiting, with curiosity, for any reply…
If this Perry IS Pat Harper,..I do NOT expect any respons…
Anyone have ANY idea WHAT we could do…against such a Leech?
Greetings,
Ira Verwoert, The Netherlands
I bought Secret Cure and realized it was just junk! Then I wrote to BBB (Better Business Bureau) and really complained! BBB took care of it for me, and I rec’d a Credit on my Bank Card
for the $17 I paid! That’s the best way to get your refund!
I also want to know why About.com doesn’t ban advertising when known to be scams. If they honestly have no control of their advertiser’s legitamacy, from this point forward, I’ll be hesitant to ever click on any other “sponsored advertiser” link again. It’s a complete injustice to those of us that frequent this column and trust Mary’s advice.
Mary’s endorsement of advertisers, or lack thereof, isn’t the issue here. I don’t think there’s any way for About.com to check every advertiser in advance, but if one is later found to be fraudulent, there should be a case made for their removal.
I was lucky to avoid this scam. Just before purchasing the “hypothyroid cure”, I noticed a link that said SCAM, which led to Mary’s article. Thanks for letting us know about “Pat Harper’s” true identity.
I read your article about this in your last enewsletter and got my credit card bills out to check . Sure enough I had been regularly charged $17.00 a month for 4 months. E-mailing and phoning the company proved useless as there was no response. I contacted my creditcard company to put a block on that charge, but had to provide a lot of ‘paperwork’on the claim. In the meantime they charged another $17.00 to my card. I contacted the BBB and filed a claim and within 24 hours had a reply from the company that they would take my name off their “membership” list and stop billing me. I know this is a buyer beware situation but what they are doing is unethical, amoral and extremely unprofessional.
Hallo everyone interested,
Did NOT realize, that Thyroid.About.com was actually themselves, also allowing advertisements from this ’scum-bag’ (alias Pat Harper..)…
Unbelievable!
Has anyone asked Mary Shomon personally for a comment on this?
Have myself VERY good experience, with DIRECTLY ‘mailing’ to Mary Shomon (and getting a PERSONAL answer…),..on numerous other issues…
Take care,..ALL!!
Love,
Ira (The Netherlands)
These ads were being run by Google months ago, but they were taken off About.com months ago, and are no longer running, as far as I am aware of. If they show up again, someone please contact me, and I’ll let the About.com management know. (and just a reminder — except to submit info on scams like this and urge these ads to be removed, I have NO control over advertising that runs on About.com or Google here at the site. This means that the fact that someone is advertising on my site does NOT mean I endorse their product, use or, recommend it, or have any experience with it at all. Be careful about ANYTHING advertised ANYWHERE.
If I personally recommend something, you’ll read about in my site’s articles, newsletter, or my books, under MY byline, not in a sponsored link, or Google ad at the site.
I too saw the “secret cure to hypothyroidism” and of course was suckered in. I did infact receive 41 pages of information, most of which I had read before and looked like it was copied from someone elses work. I din’t see the fine print about the $17 a month charge until it was too late. Anyway I phoned my credit provider and they said to sent an email to unsubscribe setting out the details and if they bill next month the fraud squad and the dispute department will look into it. I have sent several emails but have only received my “automated” subscription and sign up for more pamphlets. I guess we all need to be more careful and if its too good to be true it probably is.
These date are interesting to me. As of 3-20-08, I have found out about the charges. I am now currently in dispute & waiting for a response for refund. My credit card company is in the process of helping me also. Sham on you for scamming people.
I emailed these people THREE times from THREE of their email contact addresses begging them for me money back as there Remedies for Eczema” book did me absolutely no good. Now I get another email from them for another $17 charge on my account! These people MUST be stopped! They make many statements like “You won’t believe it when you see this simple remedy” and so forth. Turns out to be a book PACKED with pages of endless popular remedies that don’t work and even mentions Cortisone but does NOT mention that it is linked to Cancer and that the FDA is now forcing manufacturers to put this on the labels. All natural Remedies my foot!
“BEWARE”
If the columnist is so convinced that this is a scam and Fraud (and it appears to be), I would suggest she contact the ISP that is hosting the fraudulent sites and make a complaint. Anyone else can do that as well. Since they aren’t sedning stuff through the mail, you can’t accuse them of mail fraud which is s shame since the postal inspectors treat healthcare fraud very seriously. Another thing “Pat’s” victims can each do would be to write a letter and not merely an email to their credit card issuing bank and alert them of the fraud. Print a copy of the Column and attach it to thge letter. in your letter you should request that the bank conisder blocking all future charges from this company. If a credit card company gets more than one such letter, they’ll take it very seriously. Stop the easy flow of cash to “pat”.
Anyone and everyone who has been ripped off by this man should find great satisfaction in checking out the following:
http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3bff3713-815d-4831-ae49-d677fa7ba7bc&rss=59
While I am grateful to Mary for bringing attention to this scam from her website, I am also somewhat confused.
I almost got ripped off from several scams for thyroid items (info or preparations) as well as “hair loss” scams by following links from Mary’s website.
I understand that advertising is important but as a patient of thyroid disease for 20+ years now, it would be nice to go to a web site where I felt the ads were trustworthy. I have now taken the position that I am not going to give in to desperation and order ANYTHING online … so if someone does have a product that works for anything, they will not get my money. I would need PROOF POSITIVE.
The web is a cesspool for these kind of scams and I have gone back to the “old school” of thought.
Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.
Even the “comments” and “recommendations” are suspect.
And this goes for just about anything you could buy on line. It’s a shame that dishonesty is so rampant in the world, because many people could use the convenience of the internet.
So sadly, even on this site (or maybe especially on this site because it is a medical site) “caveat emptor” (let the buyer beware).
Gr8 Job Mary!! :: You called Belcher out on this crap before he went down … that’s SUPER awesome.
I’m currently trying to hound Belcher out of business using Web tools and social media. Here’s one of my posts about his health scam http://bit.ly/BRHpm {Rated R}
I would really LOVE to lay my robot eyes on this scam e-book :: If anyone still has a digital copy … please consider emailing it to me for the sake of justice.
saltydroid@gmail.com
>>bleep
An advertiser who is advertising through Google can specifically target the websites where he/she wants his ads to be shown.
The website owner can not choose the ads. He/she can only prevent a few things (like domainnames from competitors), but these easily circumvented by the advertiser (by promoting the same stuff from a different domain).
So most likely mr. Belcher (or one of his affiliates) noticed how much related traffic this about.com page was getting, and decided to run his ad on that page!
Some ethics huh.