A swarm of apparent scammers on TikTok appear to be using deceptive advertising tactics and AI-generated media to sell wellness products to users. We found numerous accounts using this strategy that seem to be part of an affiliated network, using the same content format and often promoting the same products.
Whoever or whatever created these accounts is trying to capitalize on the internet’s obsession with wellness. Nearly every username contains some combination of wellness buzzwords, and the accounts exclusively hawk health and beauty products.
The cast of deepfake influencers
Some of these accounts seem to use deepfake influencers as salespeople, fabricating elaborate backstories to support their product sales pitch and drive user engagement. For example, the account “Holistic Health Finds” uploaded videos of an influencer claiming, alternately, to be the wife of Korea’s highest paid plastic surgeon, a former Victoria’s Secret model, and a doctor herself.
However, a simple reverse image search of the woman shows that it was almost certainly generated by deepfake technology, as the same image, wearing basically identical outfits and in the same position, was used by other creators and brands.
At the end of the Holistic Health Finds videos, this supposed influencer claims that their batana oil product increases hair growth (there is no research supporting this claim), gives personal testimony about the oil, and encourages users to buy the product using the link in their bio.
Holistic Health Finds seems to have generated a diverse cast of deepfake influencers, not just the one.
Some of the same deepfake influencers were found on different accounts and took on various supposed identities, such as claiming to be a doctor and the sister of Zendaya’s stunt double.
AI-generated influencers and fabricated storytimes
Another tactic employed by these scammers is creating false personal stories related to a product in the form of a slideshow, which is a popular TikTok “storytime” trend.
One account, Wellness Welfare, sells supplements from a brand called Hey Girl using the aforementioned storytime method. Many of the personal stories they concoct seem meant to prey on women with fertility issues.
Some of the videos open with an image of a husband and wife embracing each other in a hospital bed while overlaid text claims that they’re having fertility issues. The following slides explain their struggle and eventual polycystic ovary syndrome diagnosis.
PCOS is one of the most common causes of infertility, impacting about one in 10 women of childbearing age, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Women with PCOS have long been the target of scams promising miracle cures via an array of supplements.
The video concludes with an image of the supplement and text claiming that it helped manage their PCOS.
Other accounts create supposed storytimes about the beauty routine of people with glamorous lifestyles, selling their product on the last slide.
In the above examples, the influencers are trying to sell users a debloat product by providing their own product testimonials. Aside from the image of Jennifer Lopez and her stunt double, every image containing a person appears to be AI-generated.
The scam isn’t new, but it is more sophisticated
In 2021, we reported on a series of accounts attempting to sell weight loss supplements by editing their products into real users' before-and-after weight loss videos to trick users into thinking the product caused the depicted weight loss. Many of these accounts used stock photos of doctors to appear legitimate, while others recycled the same video of a doctor nodding and smiling as a reaction to the weight loss video.
The scam evolved in 2023 when a network of TikTok Shop merchants began creating deepfake doctors to deceive users into believing the health products they sell are being promoted by medical professionals. The deepfake doctors did not talk but nodded and gave gestures of approval to the accompanying product video.
Deepfake technology has quickly become more sophisticated and, consequently, so have the scams that utilize it.
