Fraserburgh fraudsters forced to repay £800k after cancer cure con
North East women earned up to £1.6million from fake diet pills sold online.
Two so-called cancer curing con artists are forced to pay back a huge sum, after the North East women pled guilty to rogue trading fake diet pills.
Helen Buchan, 52, and 50-year-old Carol Wiseman ran a dodgy online store called Secret Diet Drops Limited.
The Fraserburgh fraudsters claimed products helped weight loss and even killed cancer cells.
"Carol Wiseman and Helen Buchan made false claims to entice vulnerable consumers into purchasing their products" - PROCURATOR FISCAL
Despite a confiscation order to repay a hefty amount of money earned through criminal activity, which the pair will have to pay within 6-months, it’s thought their scandalous scheme made them almost double the £800,000 penalty.
Procurator Fiscal for Specialist Casework, Jennifer Harrower, told Northsound News: "Carol Wiseman and Helen Buchan made false claims to entice vulnerable consumers into purchasing their products.
"In cases such as this, prosecution of a criminal offence does not mean the end of our involvement.
"We will use the laws available to us to ensure money obtained through crime is confiscated from those who do not deserve it and reinvested into the community."
Peterhead Sheriff Court had previously heard that Aberdeenshire Council’s Trading Standards department had received a number of complaints against the company during 2012 and 2013.
Sale records and order books, which recorded a large number of transactions, were seized during a search of their premises.
Trading Standards contacted a number of individuals believed to have purchased the product, and some were willing to provide a statement.
On 24 March 2016 Secret Diet Drops Limited was fined £9,000 and Wiseman and Buchan were each sentenced to a community payback order, with a condition to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.