Trading Standards in Somerset are warning people to take care when responding to Weight Loss Coffee offers that have been appearing on Facebook groups and pages in the Cheddar area.

Also known as Skinny Coffee, the Weight Loss Coffee offer promises that if you drink their miracle product over a few months you will lose weight and enjoy great coffee at the same time.

The people offering the coffee also offer the incentive of a $150 commission if you bring your friends on board.

However, to get to that level, participants have to drink $450 of coffee, which turns out to be just regular coffee.

People who do the scheme often think they genuinely have lost weight, but that is often thought to have happened because caffeine makes you eat less, so your calorie intake is lower anyway.

A spokesman for Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service said: "Slimming products or other enticing offers are sometimes used by scammers looking to lock consumers in to repeat payments or dubious pyramid selling schemes.

"People should be careful before responding to offers like this."