A social media page allegedly trying to scam Boots shoppers by promoting fake, AI–generated weight–loss adverts has been taken down.
The account had been running ads for prescription–only slimming drugs, falsely appearing to show Boots health professionals smiling and promoting the products, the BBC revealed.
The videos were posted on TikTok, where clips showed what looked like health workers drinking a vial of blue liquid, before cutting forward several months to dramatic weight–loss transformations.
Before the page was removed, the videos linked to a website selling weight–loss drugs. The site featured customer testimonials which the BBC said were either AI–generated or lifted from elsewhere online.
Other clips appeared to reuse real people’s weight–loss videos without permission, repurposing their content to sell the drugs.
The fake account used branding and names similar to the official Boots social media page, including the handle @BootsOfficial, potentially misleading shoppers.
Boots has stressed that it only runs adverts through its genuine social media account @BootsUK.
In the UK, it is illegal to advertise prescription–only weight–loss medicines to the public.
It has been revealed a fake account allegedly pretended to be Boots on TikTok promoted AI–generated weight loss medications
A Boots spokesperson told the BBC the company was aware of the videos and reported them, which led to their removal.
A spokesperson for the platform said it does not allow ‘harmful or misleading AI–generated ads’ and bans ‘the depiction, promotion, or trade of controlled substances’.
However, the BBC found that while the videos were initially taken down, the account – reportedly based in Hong Kong – remained live, allowing the same clips to be re–uploaded.
After being alerted again, the fake account was removed entirely.
Some clips included what appeared to be health professionals drinking blue liquid from small vials.
The linked website also carried warnings from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
An MHRA spokesperson told the BBC that weight–loss medicines ‘should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy against a prescription issued by a healthcare professional’.
‘Taking these medicines sourced in any other way carries serious risks to your health with no guarantees about what they contain,’ they added.
Clips included what appeared to be health professionals drinking a vial of blue liquid
Sam Gregory, an internationally recognised AI expert, told the BBC it is becoming easier for scammers to exploit artificial intelligence to target consumers.
He said: ‘AI now makes it trivially easy to generate a convincing series of videos or images showing an apparent change in a plausibly real generic health professional, or to impersonate specific health professionals wholesale.
‘The underlying question is how quickly and comprehensively platforms act when they detect – or are notified of – scams that clearly breach their terms of service.
‘Major brands like Boots will get prioritised over an individual business owner who’s been targeted.’
The case follows another warning this summer over fake weight–loss adverts using doctored images of a top TV star.
A slimming pill falsely claiming endorsement from BBC’s Dragons’ Den appeared in dozens of misleading online ads.
Researchers at consumer group Which? found 62 adverts for the product, Nixol, in Meta’s ad library, many of which appeared to have been placed by scammers.
Some ads falsely claimed the tablets had been pitched to the Dragons, while others used the show’s logo, images of investor Sara Davies MBE, or were posted from accounts named after the programme.
Several linked to websites impersonating Daily Mail news articles, mimicking MailOnline branding to appear legitimate.
Which? warned the adverts were designed to mislead and could put consumers’ health at risk.
Many claimed Nixol could help users lose 26.5lb in just two weeks, despite no clinical evidence. Others said it had no side effects, was clinically tested on 29,000 people and was 100 per cent natural.
Earlier this year, Ms Davies told BBC Morning Live she had been made aware of fake adverts using her image.
In an Instagram post, she said: ‘They are all scams,’ adding that she is working with legal teams at the BBC to have the ads removed.
