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\nPeople are being warned not to fall for misinformation or sales pitches from online scammers purporting to offer advice from doctors about diabetes medicines.
\nPhoto: 123rf\n<\/p>\n
People with Type 2 diabetes have been warned to be cautious about buying medicine online, after several ads featuring New Zealand doctors selling treatments for the disease were found to be fake.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes said the deepfake videos were created using artificial intelligence with real footage, to make it look like a genuine doctor was speaking, when they were not.<\/p>\n
President Dr Jo McClintock said she knew of at least three doctors whose image and names had been used by the scammers – one in November and two in the last two months – and several patients were thought to have bought the scam supplements.<\/p>\n
“That’s not to say there aren’t more [doctors targeted]. It’s only through people living with diabetes who have reached out, that we’ve been made aware of these social media posts.”<\/p>\n
People should check in with their GP or health professional teams if they were getting messages about medicines that seemed too good to be true, she said.<\/p>\n
The ads were also “very clever”, she added.<\/p>\n
“There are international examples as well, where they’re saying they’re ground-breaking treatments that will cure your diabetes and you don’t need to take your medications anymore.”<\/p>\n
One of the biggest worries was the misinformation being spread, she added.<\/p>\n
“People are are at risk taking unapproved treatments, potentially unsafe supplements and stopping their current prescribed medications.”<\/p>\n
McClintock said anyone who had paid for a product after seeing one of the ads should report it to police.<\/p>\n
Medical advice on social media – staying safe<\/p>\n
Get reliable information from trusted sources, like Healthify<\/a> or Diabetes New Zealand<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you’re unsure about an advert you’ve seen online, check with the trusted sources above. If you are thinking about changing your medication, check with your doctor or diabetes nurse first.<\/p>\n If you have paid for a product after seeing one of these ads, you can report it to the NZ Police by calling 105, or on the police website’s fraud and cybercrime page<\/a>.<\/p>\n