Herbert Ruppert spent $6,000 on “John Beck’s Free & Clear Real Estate System” believing that the over-the-phone coaching service would turn him — an ordinary citizen — into a wealthy real estate tycoon. It wasn’t long before he realized it was a scam.

The 70-year-old retired construction worker from Riverside was one of numerous victims of an elaborate get-rich-quick infomercial scam whose testimony helped the Federal Trade Commission win a $113 million judgment in its suit against John Nelson Beck, a now-missing Alameda man whose family has mounted a desperate, high-profile search.

“If you call up, get ready for the big pitch,” said Ruppert, who ultimately got his money back after taping his conversations with Beck’s coaches and threatening to use the tapes in a lawsuit.

Ruppert said he was “one of the lucky ones.” According to the FTC, Beck and several co-defendants preyed on financially troubled consumers by falsely claiming they could make fast money by using their programs. More than 1 million consumers were deceived, the FTC said.

Beck filed for bankruptcy in 2012 after the FTC won the judgment, and he stood to lose the only two assets listed in his bankruptcy filings: two properties in Alameda, his home on Regent Street and an investment home on Oleander Avenue.

The day he went missing, Feb. 9, Beck was scheduled to appear at a bankruptcy hearing in Oakland. He was dropped off at the federal building on Clay Street at 9 a.m. Instead of attending the hearing, he apparently walked to the 12th Street BART Station, where surveillance footage shows him standing on the San Francisco-bound platform.

“We’re still really hopeful he’s out there,” said Beck’s daughter, Laura Beck. She said last week that the family had expanded its search to shelters throughout California, hoping Beck had wandered in looking for help.

But Beck’s brother, Stephen Forrest Beck, is less optimistic.

‘Huge stress’

“He spent the last three years with this huge dark cloud over his head with lightning bolts coming out of it, wondering if he could take care of his family,” Beck’s brother said. “The thought that he was being prosecuted and persecuted put a huge stress on him.”

John Beck Amazing Profits LLC’s infomercials told consumers they could get rich by buying homes at government tax sale auctions and immediately flipping or renting them.

The “system” cost $39.95 plus shipping and handling and consisted of DVDs, CDs, and written manuals. Beck also hawked a coaching service that ranged from $195 to $14,995. The coaches were supposed to provide leads on property that people could buy and flip, but most of it turned out to be worthless, Ruppert said.

“I went and looked at a couple,” he said. “Usually I’d just find rocks and a dirt field. No power, no water.”

Jilted customers who later testified against Beck said that once they purchased the system, Beck’s sales staff would barrage them with phone calls.

“Constant phone calls at all hours,” said Cyn Walleman of Traverse City, Mich.

“They had the marketing down pat,” she added. “They knew psychologically what to say to different personalities. When they called and you started to object, they immediately switched to another tactic.”

Consumers spent millions

The FTC said consumers spent $92 million purchasing the John Beck system and another $175 million on coaching services.

Stephen Beck said he believes his brother disappeared on purpose, thinking it would prevent the FTC from taking the Regent Street home belonging to him and his wife.

“If so, he chose to sacrifice himself for the benefit of his family,” Stephen Beck said. “And from my lifelong knowledge of his character, that sounds like something he would do.”

It is unclear, however, whether Beck’s disappearance will affect any property seizure. The FTC refused to answer questions about the case, citing Beck’s ongoing appeal.

In the meantime, Beck’s family is hoping for clues to his whereabouts. Google cache searches of his computer showed he looked up directions to the Sutro Baths and Baker Beach hours before he went missing, and last week the family uncovered an Instagram photo of what looked like Beck’s silhouette, hiking the trail near Lands End.

On Friday, a witness reported seeing Beck walking west on Bodega Avenue in Sebastopol. The family immediately shifted its search effort there.

“It’s kind of driving me nuts because we’re all running around trying to look for him, and he’s left of his own accord,” said Lt. Jill Ottaviano of the Alameda Police Department. She said the police categorized Beck as a “voluntary missing person.”

Despite Beck’s legal troubles, his brother insisted Beck is an honest, benevolent person who became the target of an overzealous government crackdown.

“An absolute straight arrow,” Stephen Beck said.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @rachelswan