At least six Facebook (FB) pages carried a fake ad claiming that television presenter Kim Atienza promoted a growth supplement.
The AI-manipulated advertisement used clips of Atienza and ABS-CBN news anchor Noli De Castro to make it look like they endorsed a product called Height Growth Extreme.
“This post is a deep fake (AI). Stay away from this scam. No supplement can make you grow taller. This is hazardous for your health and is probably melanin or plastic,” Atienza warned netizens in a July 26 Instagram post.
Height Growth Extreme is not a registered food product under the Food and Drug Administration.
Reverse image search using Google Images shows that the video of De Castro and Atienza originally came from an episode of news program TV Patrol dated Oct. 1, 2021. In it, Atienza said goodbye to his audience as he appeared for the last time in the program.
To appear legitimate, the fake advertisement cited FDA Advisory No. 0052 series of 2024. This advisory is actually a public health warning against the purchase and consumption of “RED LABEL Sweet Chili Sauce.”
The altered ads carried a link to another website that promised a buy one, get one discount for netizens who give their personal information to order the product. This is a modus used by other scams previously debunked by VERA Files Fact Check.
The fake video garnered at least 2.5 million views on Facebook. It first appeared as early as April 24 but four of the six FB pages began running the ad from mid-July, or days after Atienza participated in an 18-kilometer run in Ayala.
Scams and fake ads continue to proliferate. Last year about half of at least 78 scam posts VERA Files Fact Check debunked were fake ads of health products.
