TV Mary’s anguish as her fans fall for fake ‘healing’ ads
BAKING queen Mary Berry tells TV viewers tonight how she was left heartbroken by scammers using her image to endorse products said to relieve pain.
The cookery star was “absolutely shattered” to find her fans had paid huge amounts for oils and creams – believing she endorsed them.
Punters were lured in by Facebook ads for cannabis oil creams and supplements, with faked photos that appeared to show Mary holding bottles of them.
Tears
Fans were initially charged a low introductory rate before prices were hiked to as much as £200.
Viewers will see Mary, 85, fight back tears as she tells consumer show Watchdog: “I know nothing about it. It is nothing to do with me.” Describing the scam to presenter Matt Allwright, she says: “They’re very clever.
“We began to get emails – ‘there’s a cream and you recommend it. If you say it’s good, we thought it was worth spending the money’.”
Looking emotional, she tells Allwright that she feels a “sense of responsibility”, adding: “Oh Matt, I really do. I was just absolutely shattered people could be conned.”
Mary also shares her theory about why she was selected for the fake endorsement for CBD oil.
She says: “I had polio when I was a child and because I’ve got a bit of a wonky hand, they think it’s arthritis and perhaps this is the cure for arthritis.”
Mary adds that she complained to Facebook, which pulled the adverts. But since then scores of people have contacted her to say they had already been tricked.
Allwright reports that Bionic Bliss, the company behind the products, claimed it wasn’t responsible for Mary’s image being used and blamed marketing firms.
Yesterday Mary told fans on her website: “I want everyone to know which adverts are fake so no one else loses money.”
It was revealed in March that Mary was furious when rogue traders refused to stop selling cannabis oil products using her name and image.
Watchdog is now part of The One Show, seen on BBC One from 7pm.