\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy have surged in popularity, but so have scams targeting people eager to access the drugs \u2014 or products claiming to deliver similar results. “What we\u2019ve been seeing in our scam tracker is advertisements about supplements that work just as well as a GLP-1 medication would,” said Melanie McGovern, a spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau. The BBB says that reports to its scam tracker spiked in late 2025, as fake promises of rapid weight loss flooded social media feeds. “AI-generated ads were popping up everywhere,” said McGovern. Many of those ads involved deepfakes of celebrities. One example the BBB shared with the National Consumer Unit included a widely circulated fake video impersonating Oprah Winfrey to promote a so-called “natural” weight-loss product.Winfrey addressed the use of artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes of her likeness in a letter published by our Hearst partner Oprah Daily in August.”Every week, my lawyers and I are playing whack-a-mole with fake AI videos of me selling everything from gummies to pink salt,” she wrote. “Let me say this clearly: If you see an ad with my face on a ‘product,’ it\u2019s fake.”The BBB says scammers are capitalizing on the public’s familiarity with GLP-1 drugs. To spot a scam, there’s one clear warning sign above all others: any treatment offered without a prescription. “If they\u2019re saying, ‘Hey, we\u2019ve got it, just come on and pay us this amount of money,’ that\u2019s a huge red flag \u2014 the biggest of the red flags,” McGovern said.McGovern emphasized that legitimate telehealth providers do exist for GLP-1 medications, but consumers should carefully research companies and consult their doctor before pursuing treatment.”It\u2019s your health. It is something that you are injecting into your body to make you healthier,” she said. “So, you want to make sure that your doctor is on board and is aware of what you\u2019re doing.”Consumers are also urged never to share personal health or insurance information without first confirming a company is legitimate. Anyone who encounters a suspected scam is encouraged to report it to the BBB\u2019s Scam Tracker and to the Federal Trade Commission.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy have surged in popularity, but so have scams targeting people eager to access the drugs \u2014 or products claiming to deliver similar results. <\/p>\n
“What we\u2019ve been seeing in our scam tracker is advertisements about supplements that work just as well as a GLP-1 medication would,” said Melanie McGovern, a spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau. <\/p>\n
The BBB says that reports to its scam tracker spiked in late 2025, as fake promises of rapid weight loss flooded social media feeds. “AI-generated ads were popping up everywhere,” said McGovern. <\/p>\n
Many of those ads involved deepfakes of celebrities. One example the BBB shared with the National Consumer Unit included a widely circulated fake video impersonating Oprah Winfrey to promote a so-called “natural” weight-loss product.<\/p>\n
Winfrey addressed the use of artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes of her likeness in a letter published by our Hearst partner Oprah Daily<\/a> in August.<\/p>\n “Every week, my lawyers and I are playing whack-a-mole with fake AI videos of me selling everything from gummies to pink salt,” she wrote. “Let me say this clearly: If you see an ad with my face on a ‘product,’ it\u2019s fake.”<\/p>\n The BBB says scammers are capitalizing on the public’s familiarity with GLP-1 drugs. To spot a scam, there’s one clear warning sign above all others: any treatment offered without a prescription. <\/p>\n “If they\u2019re saying, ‘Hey, we\u2019ve got it, just come on and pay us this amount of money,’ that\u2019s a huge red flag \u2014 the biggest of the red flags,” McGovern said.<\/p>\n McGovern emphasized that legitimate telehealth providers do exist for GLP-1 medications, but consumers should carefully research companies and consult their doctor before pursuing treatment.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s your health. It is something that you are injecting into your body to make you healthier,” she said. “So, you want to make sure that your doctor is on board and is aware of what you\u2019re doing.”<\/p>\n Consumers are also urged never to share personal health or insurance information without first confirming a company is legitimate. <\/p>\n Anyone who encounters a suspected scam is encouraged to report it to the BBB\u2019s Scam Tracker<\/a> and to the Federal Trade Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy have surged in popularity, but so have scams targeting people eager to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[4498,118643,69151,118644,921,118650,2776,428,118659,118651,118645,118660,90238,118646,103,118652,118661,61,60,118647,371,118658,118662,118653,14043,118648,118654,2493,40204,118655,118656,1179,118649,118657],"class_list":{"0":"post-237509","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-ad","9":"tag-ai-generated-ads","10":"tag-bbb","11":"tag-bbb-scam-tracker","12":"tag-celebrity","13":"tag-celebrity-deepfake-scams","14":"tag-doctor","15":"tag-drug","16":"tag-fake-video","17":"tag-fake-weight-loss-drugs","18":"tag-ftc-fraud-reporting","19":"tag-glp-1-hype","20":"tag-glp-1-medication","21":"tag-glp-1-scams","22":"tag-health","23":"tag-health-fraud","24":"tag-huge-red-flag","25":"tag-ie","26":"tag-ireland","27":"tag-medicare-scam-warning","28":"tag-medication","29":"tag-melanie-mcgovern","30":"tag-new-weight-loss-scam","31":"tag-online-health-scams","32":"tag-oprah-winfrey","33":"tag-ozempic-scams","34":"tag-prescription-drug-scams","35":"tag-product","36":"tag-scam","37":"tag-social-media-scams","38":"tag-telehealth-scams","39":"tag-treatment","40":"tag-wegovy-scams","41":"tag-weight-loss-scams"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}