According to the most recent data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of American adults are obese, and 70 percent are either obese or overweight. This familiar story of the obesity epidemic is further colored by surveys finding a desire among Americans to lose weight, but consistently failing to put in the effort to do so. In 2013, a Gallup survey showed that 51 percent of adults wanted to lose weight, while just 25 percent said they were seriously working toward that goal. This mismatch between Americans' stated desire to shed weight and their lack of serious effort can perhaps explain the growth of the U.S. weight-loss industry, as well as the proliferation of false and deceptive advertising for weight-loss products. With so many Americans desperate for anything that might make it easier to lose weight, it's no wonder scam artists and fraudsters have turned to the $60-billion weight-loss market to make a quick buck.