Country star Lainey Wilson said ads using her likeness to promote a gummy brand for weight loss are fake.
“By now I’m sure a lot of y’all have seen some ads about me losing weight, being hospitalized and then I started taking some weight loss gummies and blah, blah, blah, it saved my life,” Wilson said in an Instagram clip she posted as reported by Taste of Country. “Well, surprise. It ain’t true.”
Country star Luke Combs has also been hijacked as a spokesman for keto weight loss gummies, according to Jordan Liles.
Liles, who is a writer for Snopes, also said on his personal YouTube channel that celebrities need to take quick action and saturate media with statements that such stealing of their likenesses are scams.
Scammers are taking videos of stars like Wilson and Combs and using artificial intelligence to insert their voices endorsing scam products, Liles wrote in Snopes.
Dozens of celebrities’ images have been used, including Oprah Winfrey, Kelly Clarkson, Mayim Bialik and Tom Selleck, but they have not endorsed the products.
Combs’ name has been used on websites such as Outlook India, Deccan Herald, and Mid-Day, all in India.
Appearing on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast of March 16, Combs actually made the following statement, Liles wrote in Snopes: “My physical fitness and my appearance and my size has always been something that I’ve struggled with. If I don’t overcome it, it will be my biggest regret.”
Scammers lifted that statement from the Rogan podcast and through AI added the following, sounding like Combs: “Well, that was me two months ago on The Joe Rogan podcast. Up until that point, nothing I tried had helped me.
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“I was at an all-time low, then God blessed me with the miracle root gummies. My good friend Lainey Wilson had recommended them to me, and let me tell you, these things really are a miracle.
“In just six weeks, I’ve shaved off 46 pounds and feel better than ever. I’m so excited to be partnering with this company because they’ve already improved my life so much.”
On YouTube, Liles said scammers repeatedly use the claim of someone losing about 40-45 pounds in six weeks.
Scam ads of weight loss gummy products also include fake news stories attributed to NBC, CBS, and USA Today along with endorsements by Dr. Mehmet Oz, Liles said.
Consumer victims of the scams can end up with ongoing subscriptions charging hundreds of dollars per month, he said.
He urged celebrities to make theft of their images a high priority to address the scams since they could go on for months.
“I recommend you go, you know, full court press with getting the message out there, not just one tweet, not just one Facebook message or a Facebook post, rather, not just one little video,” Liles said on YouTube.
“Oprah did a video on Instagram, right?” he continued. “That’s all she did, I think, and after that scammers started using her video to continue to push the scam.”
In her video denying connection to the scam, Winfrey used the term “weight loss gummies.”
“Scammers took that out,” Liles said, “Included that in a scam video of her saying ‘weight loss gummies’ and they’re continuing to push the scam with that clip from Oprah.”
Liles told his YouTube audience that online deals that sound too good to be true usually are.
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Rather than purchases like weight loss schemes, Liles said look for deals for fun items like sporting goods. Normally only in special sales events like Black Friday or Cyber Monday can one get really great deals from places like Target or Walmart.
“Good things cost money,” he said.
