Hospital issues warning after fake videos claiming doctor endorsements 1 day ago Victoria Cook, London A hospital trust in south London has raised an alert following the circulation of fraudulent videos online falsely claiming that its staff endorse weight loss products. Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust stated that these videos, found on social media sites such as Facebook and TikTok, "falsely claim a number of our clinicians are using and endorsing these products. " The videos, depicting doctors applying weight loss patches and showing weight loss over time, are believed by the Trust to be AI-generated and do not feature any actual staff members from the hospital. The BBC reached out to the company and a doctor allegedly behind the products but received no response. Dr Daghni Rajasingam, deputy chief medical officer at the Trust, told the BBC that staff are "actively working" to have the videos removed. "They are fraudulent and misleading, " Rajasingam emphasized. "NHS clinicians would never endorse or promote commercial products like this. " She encouraged the public to seek weight loss advice from "trusted NHS sources" and warned, "We have to be aware that AI-generated images can be very convincing. " Graham Barrow, a financial crime expert and host of The Dark Money Files podcast, described the adverts and the social media accounts sharing them as "baloney. " Asked about the motivation behind the videos, Barrow said it boiled down to money. "The product they advertise can actually be purchased from reputable online marketplaces, " he noted, suggesting that consumers might receive the product if ordered but advising caution. He mentioned that the product is a "natural herbal product, " but remarked, "The real scam is persuading you to buy something that may or may not work.

Everything they claim—doctors' endorsements, successful previous users—is complete nonsense. " Barrow, who consults on financial crime, explained, "Whenever there's a chance to make money, scammers are quick to exploit it, and weight loss products are too lucrative to ignore. " Using online tools, he investigated one of the Facebook profiles of the supposed doctors promoting the adverts. An image search revealed that the profile photo actually came from a Romanian bank advertisement featuring a woman. He also pointed out contradictions in the videos: though the patches are claimed to be "made in the UK, " the packaging shown prominently features the French flag. Another red flag was that the Facebook profile’s 1, 000 followers were all from Vietnam, which Barrow cited as a clue to spotting fake accounts. He said, "The sellers are trying to bypass your rational judgment by appealing to the desire to lose weight, making it easy to lose clear thinking and impulsively spend money. " Barrow advised consumers to perform "basic checks" before purchasing such products. Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust urged anyone who encounters these videos online to report them to the respective social media platforms.