Have you fallen for fake health videos offering deadly advice?

Inserting garlic rectally can boost your immune system. Tomatoes will thin the blood as effectively as prescribed heart medication. Skin cream made from yams outperforms HRT for menopause symptoms…

These are just some examples of the rogue health advice currently circulating online. Of course, none of these claims are true – but some could potentially be fatal.

When documentary‑maker Sam Tullen noticed a surge of fake doctors, nurses and avuncular‑looking experts pushing misleading health tips across his social media, he decided to find out where the were coming from and who was profiting.

‘I was getting these AI‑generated health videos all over my feed and I wanted to know who was behind them. There is so much online now and it is becoming harder to spot the truth,’ Sam tells Metro. 

‘One video said if you have a tumour, use this essential oil and it will be gone within a week. Another claimed garlic water outperforms antibiotics and that pharmaceutical companies buried the study to make money.

‘There was even one that said: if you have a lump, do not see a doctor. This turmeric soup will make it disappear in 24 hours. These are just crazy claims,’ he says.

Sam says he tracked these videos until they were taken down after around a day or so, however similar clips are uploaded every week across social media, in a bid to keep the cycle going. 

Metro also quickly found a fake video claiming to fix clogged arteries with ginger and apple cider vinegar, while one said that a tincture of salt, lemon and cinnamon and ‘one secret ingredient’ mimics the effect of liposuction. Another AI video we discovered promised to fix erectile dysfunction with milk, eggs and honey.

This constant spewing of fake experts doling out rogue advice, is known as content farming – a mass production of low‑quality, superficial material designed to maximise views, clicks and ad revenue. 

The scam advice encourages clicks which enables content farmers to make money from affiliate links.

Many of the clips Sam has seen mostly on Facebook and Instagram are crafted to look like expert advice, supposedly revealing what the healthcare industry is trying to hide.

Reading the comments, Sam became concerned that people believe the advice and delay proper medical treatment. ‘I saw people talking about the content and discussing what helps with their ailment, and that maybe they should give this advice a try. It was alarming’, he says.  

Over three weeks in March, he messaged hundreds of accounts posing as an aspiring content farmer in the hope that he could understand how and why they work. 

None replied. Eventually, he reverse‑searched one video and traced it to an account belonging to someone calling himself Bilal Roy, who had posted on LinkedIn.

The post, clearly written by AI, claimed he earned $10,000 per month from AI‑generated affiliate links and was offering to mentor others to do the same. 

Sam doesn’t know whether Bilal was using a fake name, but he’s been unable to track him down anywhere on social media, so he thinks it was an alias the person was using to conceal himself. However, he is sure the post was written using ChatGPT, due to the proliferation of emojis and em-dashes. 

So, Sam messaged him. Three hours later, he got a reply.

When the documentary-maker asked for proof that these accounts work and generate views, Bilal sent screenshots from logged‑in profiles of multiple content‑farming pages he claimed to own. They were generating more than 4 million impressions in a month across three accounts.

Hetold Sam that if he followed his advice, he would make at least $6,000 in his first month, and more than $10,000 thereafter.

Pretending to be interested in mentoring, Sam paid the $860 fee and scheduled a call, which Bilal later cancelled.

Instead, he was sent a ‘secret document’ via LinkedIn (which Metro has seen) outlining Bilal’s methods. It explained how they could use special affiliate tracking links to let a company know that a customer came through a recommendation and award them commission. It also suggested the best AI tools to use to produce the most convincing videos.

More troubling was the guidance on exploiting viewers’ health fears.

One page, describing which videos generate the most affiliate sales, stated: ‘it dont matter if lieing about the health tips or treatment just try to sell product’ [sic].

Another line instructed creators to ‘make them (the viewers) think they could get sick or even die so they buy it’.

It stunned Sam. ‘These horrible ethics shook me. These videos prey on people’s vulnerabilities, especially older users who do not understand AI. It is predatory and it could delay urgent care.

‘I am worried about the harm that can come from health misinformation. It can literally stop people seeking medical treatment because they believe in natural remedies or supplements that do not work.

‘AI allows this misinformation to spread like wildfire, impacting real lives.’
Armed with the document, Sam tried to arrange another call, this time to challenge Bilal, but his LinkedIn post and account had been deleted. Sam has not been able to find him since.

‘I believe he will be doing the same thing elsewhere under a different name,’ he says.

Through his online documentary series Disclosed, Sam hopes to give viewers the tools to separate fact from fiction. He is also investigating bots, illegal streaming and fame laundering, where influencers buy engagement and followers to inflate their online presence.

‘The series pulls back the digital curtain to expose hidden corners of the internet. It is getting harder to spot the truth, so this is a place where audiences can trust what they are being told, where they know they are not being misinformed about important topics,’ he says.

Sam is also calling for social media platforms to do more to monitor harmful health advice and for younger or more digitally savvy users to call out AI‑generated content wherever they see it.

‘If you want to know whether health advice is coming from a professional, ask yourself: is the account verified? Are they asking you to click links in their bio? That is a big red flag.

‘And if you are worried about something, go and see a doctor. Please do not take health advice from random online videos, as you do not know who is delivering it or why.’

Metro has reached out to Meta and Linkedin for comment.

Disclosed is produced by Tullen Productions – it will be available to watch on DOCO Documentaries from 6pm, Friday 1 May 2026.

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