A deepfake video involving Q+A’s Jack Tame and one of the country’s leading diabetes researchers has been circulating online, swindling unknowing New Zealanders out of their money.
The clip, posted online and shared on social media, purported to show the TVNZ presenter and Professor Rinki Murphy discussing a supposed medical breakthrough.
“I feel horrified that I would be saying these sorts of things and people would be believing them or spending money on them or just being confused in general,” Murphy told 1News.
The video was also convincing those with diabetes to stop taking important medications, prompting a warning from Health NZ.
“If you’re hearing messages that seem unexpected, out of the blue, then stop and think very clearly, ‘is this legitimate’?,” said chief medical officer of health, Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard.
Whangārei man Steve Davis lives with diabetes and was caught up in the scam.
“It was Jack Tame fronting it, so we thought, well that’s going to be pretty authentic,” he said.
“So we listened to the video, I listened to it, and then placed the order.”
Davis paid $320 and hasn’t yet got his money back, but is still holding out hope.
“It’s disgusting in the sense that they are preying on the vulnerable, they’re preying on people that would naturally want to respond to something that looked promising.
“I felt quite gutted, I guess, yeah, this is ridiculous. How can they do this?”
Murphy said her patients felt “betrayed”.
“Living with diabetes is one of the hardest things because it is there 24/7, there’s a lot of effort required in managing it and people clearly want to be done with it.”
In a statement, Police told 1News an online report was made on April 30 relating to the video.
“Police are not immediately aware of any reports from potential victims who have paid money towards fake products being advertised in these videos.
“We would advise the public to exercise extreme caution with any product advertised for sale online, at either cheap prices or promising outlandish benefits.”
