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A new report has spotted more than 1,000 different deepfake health videos spreading online in just three months. The videos, posing as legitimate ads on Meta’s social media platforms, impersonate celebrities, known doctors, TV hosts, and healthcare professionals.
Targeting Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, cybercriminals using this tactic prey on the trust of patients who suffer chronic and even incurable diseases like cancer, offering them ‘miracle cures’ while aiming to steal their data or empty their bank accounts.
Thanks to generative AI, it is easier than ever to create fake endorsements and spread them out en masse, tricking people into opening their wallets through one of the cruellest types of scams.
Key Takeaways
- Over 1,000 deepfake health videos were identified spreading online within three months.
- These videos impersonate celebrities and healthcare professionals to promote fake health cures.
- Cybercriminals target regions including Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia.
- Scammers use AI to create convincing fake endorsements to steal data and money from victims — and can quickly and easily create videos in different languages.
- Health-related fraudulent ads on Meta platforms are increasing, promoting medical supplements through compromised social media accounts.
- Show Full Guide
Health AI Scams Spreading Across the Web
There is an increase in health-related fraudulent ads running on Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram (all of Meta’s platforms). These ads promote 40 medical supplements using compromised social media accounts with up to 350,000 followers. Scammers created over 1,000 different deepfake videos across social media.
Impersonated figures include Brad Pitt, Cristiano Ronaldo, George Clooney, Dr. Ben Carson, Bill Maher, Denzel Washington, Dr. Heinz Lüscher, and many other healthcare figures.
Bitdefender Labs researchers analyzed malicious campaigns over a three-month period from March to May 2024, and explained how a fairly common scam is taken to the next level thanks to artificial intelligence.
Techopedia spoke to Alina Bizga, Security Analyst at Bitdefender to get the inside story.
She said:
“Today’s technological advancements, including AI, allow scammers to significantly increase the reach and success rate of their fraudulent activities, making it much harder for individuals and organizations to defend against them.
“While the investigation related to the potential threat group or groups behind these scams is still ongoing, we can indeed state that the scammers are highly organized and make use of various tools to scam individuals across the globe.”
Bizga explained that these groups create and manage the pages used to propagate their scams. They also conduct research to target regions that may be concerned with specific health problems using well-known and appreciated personas.
They then register tens of thousands of malicious domains and tailor the content of each associated webpage.
All these capabilities reveal an organized infrastructure, certain skills and know-how, and a solid level of resources.
Bizga added:
“The criminals create convincing advertisements that mimic legitimate health and wellness brands, using high-quality graphics, professional-looking websites, and fake testimonials to lure unsuspecting consumers.”
Bizga also explained that because these scam ads often appear on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, targeting users based on their browsing history and interests, the group knows how to leverage social media algorithms to specifically target individuals who have shown interest in health products.
“However, it is unclear whether the group that delivers these malicious ads is also behind the call centres that process orders for miracle products. A possibility is that the group’s responsibility is only to propagate the ads for other ‘third parties'”.
Two Impersonated TV Doctors and Another Investigation
The report from Bitdefender is not only a recent social media health scam investigation. On July 17, the BMJ, a leading medical research and news media, exposed that deep fakes of famous TV doctors — Hillary Jones and Michael Mosely, were promoting health scams online.
Dr. Martin J. Kraemer, security awareness advocate at KnowBe4, told Techopedia that these impersonations are bound to happen time and time again.
“The authority and credibility of popular personalities — whether these are physicians, cooks, wall-street gurus, or otherwise — is a great asset for scammers. Once they go viral on TikTok or Instagram, these videos will generate thousands of views and potential clicks on phishing websites.”
Dr. Kraemer raised a very important point by highlighting the role of media literacy and healthcare education. Dr. Kraemer warned that awareness is critical because soon recognizing a deepfake from the real thing will be increasingly difficult.
“Regarding our health, we should always double-check with authorities such as the NHS and MHRA. Public health campaigns and public cybersecurity campaigns must complement each other to protect people from drug-related online scams.”
How Cybercriminals Use AI in Deep Fake Health Scams
The Bitdefender report revealed how threat actors are using AI in different ways throughout their campaigns. They use AI to tailor scam messages and ads to the interests and vulnerabilities (health problems) of individuals. They also use GenAI to generate highly convincing messages that are grammatically correct and in context with the ads they push through social media platforms.,
Regarding the quality of the deepfakes, Bitdefender said that while most of the videos show clear signs of tampering, their researchers found several videos that were challenging to detect as deepfakes.
Additionally, AI allows threat actors to generate ads and content in different languages to target different groups and regions.
Languages identified in this investigation include English (for U.S., U.K., Australia, and others), Romanian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Latvian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Polish, Greek, Croatian and others.
In total, scammers have generated thousands of pages promoting medical supplement scams and tens of thousands of malicious social media advertisements.
We asked Bizga, security analytics at Bitdefender what the most targeted population groups and health conditions are.
“The ads cater to various groups, with some specifically targeting the senior population. Among the most popular health conditions, we’ve noted a keen interest in supplements said to cure diabetes, sight-related difficulties, joint pain, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and tinnitus.”
Bizga added that besides social media owned by Meta, they have also identified malicious ads delivered through Google Ads on various other websites. “These ads resemble those seen on Meta’s platforms,” Bizga said.
The end goal of these health scams is not just to sell ineffective ‘miracle’ cures but also at times to steal the victims’ personal and financial data. Bizga walked us through the steps in these attacks.
“Once consumers are convinced, they are directed to fake e-commerce sites to purchase the supplements. Unfortunately, the products sold are usually ineffective, unsafe, or non-existent, leading to financial loss and potential health risks for consumers.”
Bizga explained that consumers who fall victim to scammers not only lose money on these bogus products but also risk having their financial and personal data stolen in the process.
AI Deepfake Leverage International Law Enforcement and Jurisdiction Gaps
Gangs or groups running call center illegal scams and fraud often operate across borders, leaving authorities and victims in the U.S., Europe, or other regions, baffled as to how to respond.
Bizga from Bitdefender said that addressing the complexities and jurisdictional challenges behind fake supplements and health products requires an enhanced collaboration between health authorities and law enforcement agencies both domestically and internationally.
“Effectively combating these scams requires the creation of a global network strictly dedicated to sharing information about known supplement-health scams, fraudulent entities, and suspicious websites.”
Bizga added that there is a significant need for public awareness campaigns to educate consumers on the risks associated with purchasing or consuming such products, as well as enforcing strict regulations on the marketing and sale of these dietary supplements with regular monitoring to deter such fraudulent activities.
Social media companies are also being pressed by governments to combat deepfake scams and other types of fraud on their platform.
Ben Clayton, CEO of Media Medic, a professional healthcare audio security company, told Techopedia that these campaigns are more than just misleading ads and can cause real damage.
“From what I’ve gathered, these groups are incredibly well-organized and tech-savvy. They’ve got the infrastructure and resources to pull off sophisticated scams. These aren’t just random hackers in a basement. These are coordinated efforts with serious tech know-how behind them.”
The Bottom Line
AI-powered deepfakes are rapidly transforming into a potent weapon for cybercriminals, with health scams emerging as a primary target. By impersonating celebrities, doctors, and trusted figures, these fraudsters are creating highly convincing advertisements for fake miracle cures.
As AI technology continues to advance, so too does the sophistication of these scams, making it increasingly difficult for users to discern fact from fiction. To protect themselves, individuals must exercise extreme caution when encountering online health claims, verify information from reputable sources, and be wary of unsolicited offers or pressure tactics.
