Richie McCaw considering legal action over cannabidiol gummies scam

All Blacks and Crusaders legend Richie McCaw is considering legal action against a company selling CBD (Cannabidiol) products under his name without consent.

McCaw and wife Gemma warned their social media followers about the company, which appears to be a scam, on Wednesday evening.

Richie Mccaw CBD Gummies NZ's products promise to "diminish torment" and "help extraordinarily with tension".

In an Instagram post, Gemma wrote that the pair "in no way" endorse the product.

"It has been brought to our attention that Richie McCaw's image has been used to sell these CBD gummies," she said.

"We in no way endorse this product that is taking money from people here in NZ.

"This website is unauthorised and we would hate for anyone to think that Rich endorses this product in any way."

McCaw's agent Dean Hegan, of Halo Sport, said legal action was being considered but noted it was proving "reasonably difficult" to find the source of the scam.

"Richie doesn't have any involvement at all with that company and to use imagery like they have is very disappointing," he said.

Hegan said the McCaw camp had been aware of the scam for a few weeks. Given McCaw's renowned healthy lifestyle, Hegan said it was frustrating to be associated with any product, particularly one that might cause harm.

"We've got sympathy for anyone that's got caught up in this, hopefully people see it for what is."

It's not the first time McCaw's image has been caught up in a scam.

In 2019, McCaw was one of the prominent New Zealanders whose likeness had been used without permission by fake-news-spreading social media accounts to promote bogus get-rich schemes.

A spokesman for McCaw, Halo Sport chief executive Simon Porter, said they had tried in the past to track down the administrators of these websites and demand that images and the like be taken down.

But he said they are often difficult to trace and then notoriously difficult to pin down – that's if they engage at all.

"Whilst it can at times be annoying, we take the view that trusting the public to see through the nonsense is the best approach."

McCaw recently scooped the coveted Sportsman of the Decade gong at the 58th Halberg Awards in Auckland.

Richie and Gemma McCaw are expecting their second child later this year.

The sporting legends announced the news in January, saying their young daughter Charlotte "can't wait to be a big sister".