A Nigerian-born, US-based professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Centre, Samuel Achilefu, has become an online sensation, expert, and pioneer of new medicine. His image and footage have been used in dozens of video advertisements that promote treatments for conditions such as diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, and arthritis.
However, most people who comment, like, share, and take action on the promoted content URL that features Professor Achilefu’s photographs and videos are unaware that they are digitally manipulated images. His voice is often cloned to fit the videos, giving the impression that he pioneered or endorses a revolutionary medicine with potential cures for numerous ailments.
However, they aren’t just meant to discredit Achilefu and his achievements but use his voice, image and video for their benefit.
The professor has appeared on content and websites promoting GlucoPro, Cardioton, Cordix, Cardizoom, etc. as curative health products for different types of diseases.
Dr. Achilefu, in response to one of the videos on his LinkedIn account, denied endorsing any of those products.
Fact-checking analyses were conducted on over 50 websites and videos, some of which included Achilefu’s. Findings revealed that the videos and website content were part of a global scam marketing unlicensed and unregulated health products said to have curative properties. To deceive the people, the scammers create fake websites using logos and features belonging to several local and international media companies, including Al Jazeera, CNN, BBC, NBC, Vanguard Nigeria, NTA, The Nation, Channels Television, TV Continental, and Arise TV.
They impersonate popular and genuine media platforms to portray the content as credible. Click to view some of the fake websites promoting unlicensed health products.
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A Nigerian, Sunday Asuquo Eyoh, who used GlucoPro, expressed his dissatisfaction in the comment section of a promotional post published by the Fuerza Interior Facebook page. He wrote, “This product is not working. I’ve taken six bottles, and it still doesn’t work.”
Social media monitoring since 2023 revealed dozens of Facebook advertisements containing inaccurate information about at least 20 well-known practitioners, including professionals in medical fields and media personalities such as reporters, presenters, and broadcasters. These advertisements all direct viewers to fake news articles with identical headlines promoting unlicensed curative health products.
The operators behind these deceptive websites and promotions employ a two-step strategy. First, Meta ads lead unsuspecting users to fake news websites with fabricated articles about public figures and supposed breakthroughs by new drug makers. Next is the transaction stage.
These ads continue to thrive violating Meta’s advertising standards on domain impersonation, spam, and fraud-related policies, among others.
Products like GlucoPro are promoted through a web of false, misleading, and potentially dangerous claims that prey on people in distress, especially those with chronic illness or who have recently received diagnoses. In their search for solutions, they are led into algorithm-driven echo chambers making exaggerated and false health claims.
Facebook’s recommendation system amplifies the problem, steering desperate users towards dramatic videos and testimonials with unlicensed ‘cures’ for conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and joint pain. Many of these ads blend conspiracy theories with fake success stories and pseudoscience. Their typical claim is that Nigerian pharmaceutical companies are hiding a diabetes cure. A recurring narrative is that pharmacies refuse to stock these ‘miracle’ products not due to safety concerns but because they are supposedly profit-driven and indifferent to patients’ wellbeing. Such emotionally charged stories aim to legitimise dubious products while undermining trust in medical institutions.
Some linked videos even feature websites like wheel of fortune offering visitors a 50 percent discount for that day only, which is a deceptive tactic, since the same offer persists daily. Users are asked to provide their names and phone numbers, which are then used for further manipulation.
An OSINT and disinformation researcher, Kunle Adebajo, said the videos seem to work quite well in the promotion of uncertified medical solutions, which not only deprived people of their hard-earned money but also endanger their lives.
“These actors would often use the images of newsreaders or other reputable individuals. And they even promote some of these posts, meaning the content moderation and ad review mechanisms are very weak. Social media platforms need to do more to track such harmful content. They should empower users to easily report them and bolster their capacity to swiftly work on such complaints,” Adebajo said.
In one instance, a page named Dr Emily Johnson, whose profile image is a stock photo that was posted on iStock in 2016, published a video that featured Professor Samuel Achilefu. One video claims that Dr Achilefu discovered a 99 percent effective therapy for hypertension. The video was digitally manipulated, using the cloned voice of the Arise TV logo and presenter Ojy Okpe. In a different video, she supposedly discussed the African hypertension epidemic and promoted a natural remedy that could supposed to bring blood pressure back to normal within a few weeks. Both videos promote Normatone and Cardiovax by linking to a fake website that used the Arise TV logo.
READ ALSO: From cure to con: How Africans seeking diabetes remedy are exploited on Facebook (II)
An Abuja, Nigeria–based doctor, Kingsley Onwuka, said,”“Hypertension is a lifelong condition that can only be well-controlled with lifestyle modification and/or drugs. No one is said to be cured per se.”
Onwuka added, “Whether arthritis is curable depends on the type of arthritis and the age of the patient. As a doctor, I don’t prescribe herbal supplements because their contents, dosages, and side effects have not been proven. They have not undergone clinical trials.”
Similarly, a Facebook page purportedly belonging to a medical doctor, Dr Matthew Lee, features Arise TV presenter Ojy Okpe and the CNN logo in a sponsored article about diabetes set against the backdrop of Arise TV. It promotes a 98 percent effective blood pressure-lowering medicine and directs users to a link for purchases. However, a Google reverse image search revealed that the profile picture, purportedly of Dr Lee, was actually that of Dr Robert Kruger, a physician in the U.S. Air Force. A Meta Ad Library analysis of the page revealed 16 posts – 15 in Arabic and one in English – intended for Nigerian users and published in June 2024.
Anwar Rida (أنور رضا), another page, used Achilefu’s name and image in three video adverts. Cordis, Normatone, and Cardiovax advertised that a single course of treatment could cure cardiovascular diseases and restore blood pressure to normal levels. PT SJA Global Cosmindo, an Indonesian company, was shown as the producer on a Cordis label. When contacted via WhatsApp, the company denied making the product, claiming that it only manufactures cosmetics, not pharmaceuticals.
In another example, a page known as Natural Media, shared a video in June 2024 purporting showing Amaka Udeh, a former Arise TV programme host, interviewing Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, the former director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC). The video directed viewers to a fake website promoting Cardizoom, who made up a story that he was fired for finding a way to treat hypertension. Actually, Dr Ihekweazu quit his job willingly in 2021 to work for the World Health Organization. Unsynchronised lip movements and facial distortion were among the obvious indications of AI manipulation in the video.
A Nigerian doctor and influencer, Egemba Chinoso Fidelis, also known as Aproko Doctor, publicly denied endorsing Cardizoom on March 25, 2025, in a Facebook statement, following an AI-manipulated video allegedly showing him recommending the drug for high blood pressure and warning against prescribed drugs such as metoprolol, lisinopril, and amlodipine.
Another manipulated video featured Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, with a voiceover falsely claiming he had battled high blood pressure for more than 50 years. Viewers were then directed to a fake website promoting Normatone as a cure, beaaring the Legit News logo. A reverse image search revealed that the original Soyinka footage was taken from a Louisiana Channel YouTube interview published in December 2023.
These examples represent only a fraction of hundreds of AI-generated videos circulating through Meta ads, targeting wider audiences with deceptive health claims. Between November 2023 and July 2025, over 50 pages Facebook and Instagram pages were found using digitally manipulated AI videos and images to promote unlicensed health products.
Pages identified in this network include The Walking Tall, Family Tree, Dr. Matthew Lee, Fluate, Dr. Emily Johnson, A Medical Mistery, Anwar Rida, Deal Moth 31, Midhawi, Suhileatan Health Good, and Natural Media. Additional pages and their content can be viewed here.
Meta did not respond to two detailed email enquries sent to its media email account, one on June 27, 2024, and the other on August 11, 2025. The emails contained names and information for Facebook pages which used digitally manipulated and AI-generated content to market unregulated and unlicensed health products for high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, joint pain, and low sexual performance. These pages leveraged Meta Ads Manager to amplify their reach.
Although Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) appear to be the primary channels for more promotions, the same actors were also found to be using Google Ads as part of their broader digital marketing strategy to reach a wider audience. A search on the Google Ads Transparency Centre revealed that products such as GlucoPro, Insulux, Xenorpost, Spasmair, Fast Active, Cardioton, and Metabon have been actively promoted to users in Nigeria, Tanzania, Cameroon, and South Africa.
Four names – Alicia Freeman, Samuel Foster, Lea Keller, and Paulson Robert – appear on the Google Ads Transparency Centre as sponsors of these ads across several countries. According to the platform, Samuel Foster is based in the United Kingdom, Paulson Robert in Poland, Lee Keller in Germany, and Alicia Freeman in South Africa. However, online searches yielded no verifiable information to confirm the identities or professional affiliations of any of these individuals, raising concerns that these names may be fabricated or used as proxies.
The ads use a deceptive marketing structure, with websites like glucopro.bio deploying subdirectories such as /ng/ to target Nigerian audiences specifically. This indicates region-specific content rotation, a common tactic in global fraud schemes. The URL parameters, such as utm_source=google, utm_term=gluco pro, and gclid, confirm that these are paid search campaigns, making the product more visible to users actively searching for diabetes treatments.
The landing pages themselves are filled with false and dangerous medical claims, including ‘Helps cure type 2 diabetes naturally,’ ‘Stabilises blood sugar after the first week,’ ‘Recommended by doctors,’ ‘Restores pancreatic function,’ and ‘No side effects.’ These claims are not supported by any clinical evidence or regulatory approval. Similar messaging was observed in ads targeting users in South Africa and Tanzania, with unregulated supplements being falsely marketed as cures for chronic illnesses.
Two Facebook pages, 40 subdomains – How the story began
Products like GlucoPro have been promoted on Facebook before December 2023, when the journalist first became aware of it through a promotion by the Facebook page, Laut Product. This page wasn’t functioning alone; it co-existed with another page called Eco Puzzling. The two pages used Facebook advertisements to market a variety of unproven remedies for long-term ailments such as diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, and joint pain.
To better understand the operations of these pages, their timelines and Meta Ad Libraries were closely examined. Investigators used a mix of paid and open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools to analyse the website URLs shared on the pages. These tools helped to uncover digital patterns, map web infrastructure, and reveal the broader strategy driving the fraudulent advertising campaigns.
READ ALSO: From cure to con: How Africans seeking diabetes remedy are exploited on Facebook (I)
The Eco Puzzling Ad Library was banned after running promotions targeting European countries such as Austria and Germany. However, Laut Product continues to operate, pushing similar ads primarily in Nigeria and India.
Both pages were found to have published identical posts on December 29, 2023, urging users to visit websites that marketed supposed curative health products for diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, and prostatitis. The posts appeared in English and Bangla, the official language of Bangladesh. Accompanying videos attracted thousands of views and hundreds of comments from users seeking to buy the alleged remedies.
A key tactic used by the operators was to conceal their video content from public timelines. Instead, they uploaded the videos through Facebook’s Ad Manager for promotion. The URL links embedded in the posts served as landing pages for these paid ads, enabling sales while evading public scrutiny. This same strategy was later identified across several other Facebook pages promoting unlicensed health products such as GlucoPro and Cardioton.
One of the tools used, DomainTools, revealed that the landing page URLs on the promotions were subdomains to a website, josefinaa.com, which was found to be hosted on Cloudflare.
It was also discovered that Josefinaa.com operated more than 40 subdomains in various languages. These subdomains directed visitors to pages containing articles on health-related topics, many of which promoted and marketed supposed cures for a range of diseases. (Google spreadsheet document to Josefinaa subdomains)
These included having page sections on Josefinaa.com in Swahili, German, Malay, English, Bangla, Hindi, French, and Spanish, all of which were used to promote unlicensed health products marketed as cures for diseases.
They marketed products such as GlucoPro, Normatone, Cardioton, Metabon, DiabeCode, Diabetics, and Fast Active.
One of the subdomains had a Channel Television logo and used Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu, a Nigerian-American physician, forensic pathologist and neuropathologist, who was the first to discover and publish findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It falsely described him as a cardiovascular surgeon and specialist at the Department of Endocrinology, who developed a permanent diabetes cure called GlucoPro. Another subdomain used his images and name to promote a diabetic drug called DiabeCode.
The findings were shared with the Post-Marketing Surveillance (PMS) Directorate of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in Nigeria, Fraden Bitrus, and was asked if the government agency had approved the health products promoted on Facebook for sale and use in Nigeria. In response, Bitrus said none had been registered by NAFDAC and therefore should not be on sale.
“Metabon whole body cleanse is under processing for registration, but it is not registered and should not be on the market for sale,” he said.
Use of a fake location
The information obtained from DomainTools revealed that the website registrant’s name is Aleksandr Kovalenko, while the city registrant is in Kiev, with the registrant state or province in Kievskaya.
The information alleged that josefinaa.com website was registered in Ukraine, but the information seems suspicious as Kievskaya is a Russian name and does not refer to any city in Ukraine. It is the name of the Moscow Metro station in the Dorogomilovo District, Western Administrative Okrug, Moscow.
Eco Puzzling sets its location in Aja, Lagos State, Nigeria, and Laut Products in Delhi, India. However, Facebook uses IP addresses to determine where a page is operating from. Other pages also set their different locations based on what the Facebook page transparency section provides about where the pages are being managed.
Using the Facebook transparency feature, the majority of the pages listed administrators’ location in countries such as Ukraine, Nigeria, and the United States. However, some concealed their addresses, while others showed addresses from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Latvia, Moldova, Russia, Lithuania, and the United Kingdom. The locations, content, promotion, posting patterns and landing pages all point to the same people operating these pages or copying each other.
These pages continue to run their fraudulent campaigns and spread misleading health information without sanction from Facebook, despite the red flags being too visible. As a result, many social media users are have fallen victim to their deception.
In an interview, a legal practitioner, Adedamola Solesi, said Meta cannot be held liable for the false health claims circulating on its platform.
“Meta cannot be held liable for any third-party infringement. Since they have put in mechanisms for any fake news or false news to be reported or flagged, I believe that it is the joint responsibility of not just Facebook alone but also users to report such cases. If we take a cue from the United States, we can see that we have a plethora of court cases vindicating and absolving social media platforms from infringement, crimes, breach of contract, or falsehood that are attributed to third parties,” Solesi said.
However, a human rights activist, Charles Muoneme, disagreed. He said Meta would not absolve itself from the fraud being committed on its platform.
“Meta is liable. If someone perpetrates a crime through a platform you created, you are liable because you have not put sufficient measures in place to curb it. Meta hasn’t done enough to check these deceits on its platform.”
This is the third part of an investigation into how Africans are being exploited on Facebook in the name of a cure for Diabetes. Here is the first and second parts.
