This sounds like an ad I saw for “The best Hydrogen Peroxide” or some such touted as a miracle cure. Mix it with certain substances and you WILL cure all your problems in the sense that “most human problems can be solved with an appropriate charge of high explosives.”
Just apply to your skin, and FOOF! No more [del]face on your acne[/del] acne on your face!
A quick Google search reveals a new level in marketing scams. A number of sites wondering if MMS is a scam appear to be operated by the creator of MMS. In other words, if you search for MMS scam you are confronted with a number of sites discounting MMS is a scam, … all managed by the same folks trying to sell you MMS.
Good luck with your friend.
I’ve seen this worked with other Miracle Products, such as noni and acai juices. Never bothered to check it out, but figured such “warning” sites are probably run by sleazy marketers hoping to sell you their “better” version of the product (Trust No One But Genuine Us) or a competing supplement.
True, they could also be run by outright scammers hoping to harvest personal info.
I don’t equate a scammer with people desiring to steal your identity. A scammer is just someone who wants your money by being deceptive and lying to you about a product or service. The snake oil trick. However, an identity thief wants your personals to make money off of your name/reputation/back account, directly and/or indirectly. Granted, a scammer and identity thief could be one and the same if their motivation is dual as opposed to singular.
Alright, how about “criminal”?
I’d say a scammer is someone who scams. So if they trick you into giving them anything valuable, whether money, or merely information, they’re still scamming you.
Now, someone who finds your identity in the trash, or buys it from someone else–those aren’t scammers. They didn’t trick you into giving them the information.
The FDA issued a warning about this stuff yesterday:
http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/02/fda-warns-against-using-miracle-mineral-solution/